New signing Tom McManus marked his debut with a goal as Dundee fired three past Inverness Caledonian Thistle to drag the Highland club back into the relegation dogfight at the foot of the Bank of Scotland Premier League.

The former Hibernian striker pounced three minutes after the break, to add to Steven Robb's 28th-minute opener.

John Sutton added the decisive third from the penalty spot after Stuart McCaffrey handled inside the box.

Brewster scored his first goal for the club, but it proved no more than a late consolation.

Inverness had the first chance of a low-key opening period when the swirling wind caught Roy McBain's inswinging corner from the right and blew it dangerously towards goal.

Dundee goalkeeper Derek Soutar had to scramble backwards along his line and punch clear.

Dundee strode up to the other end and were denied by a great saving tackle from Grant Munro.

Neil Barrett threaded a great defence-splitting ball through to McManus, but the Caley defender dived in before he could pull the trigger.

Brewster had a great chance on the quarter-hour mark, but blazed a shot over the bar from six yards after using all his guile to fend off Calum McDonald.

Robb celebrated signing his new three-year deal in style with a goal of sublime quality.

The 22-year-old drove down the left flank beyond McCaffrey, Russell Duncan and finally Darren Dods before lashing a shot underneath Mark Brown's body.

Dods had a great chance to equalise minutes later, but sent a header over the crossbar.

Caley rallied right before the break and were only denied the equaliser by an excellent couple of saves from Soutar.

First, he dived to his right to palm away Wilson's shot then followed that up with an even better block to deny Brewster.

Dundee's frenetic start to the second half unsettled the Caley players and allowed McManus to double their advantage three minutes after the break with a classic poacher's goal.

He intelligently followed Caballero's shot from the edge of the area and was perfectly placed to capitalise on Brown's failure to hold onto the ball by nodding it into the net.

The Dark Blues went further ahead in the 56th minute, this time from the penalty spot.

McCaffrey was adjudged to have handled Caballero's shot inside the box, leaving Sutton with the chance from 12 yards, which he duly took, blasting into the bottom left-hand corner.

Golabek was booked in the aftermath of the goal, seemingly for comments he made to the official.

Dundee boss Jim Duffy withdrew McManus for youngster Scott Robertson, who came in for his league debut, in the 66th minute.

Caley tried to get something back and scored through Brewster in the dying seconds.

But it was too late to save the game and the Dark Blues moved level on points with their Highland opponents.

Teams:

Dundee: Soutar, McNally, Wilkie, McDonald, Robb, Fotheringham, Barrett (Mann 86), Smith, Sutton, McManus (Robertson 66), Caballero (Larsen 79).

Subs Not Used: Jack, Cerdeira, Clark.

Goals: Robb 28, McManus 48, Sutton 56 pen.

Inverness CT: Brown, Munro, Dods, McCaffrey, Golabek, Wilson, Duncan, Keogh (Juanjo 69), McBain (Hart 58), Brewster, Bayne.

Subs Not Used: Fraser, Hastings, Proctor, Prunty, Black.

Booked: Golabek, Duncan.

Goals: Brewster 90.

Att: 5,567

Ref: A Freeland (Scotland).