Hibernian suffered a surprisingly heavy defeat in the Highlands as goals from Juanjo, Craig Brewster and Barry Wilson gave Inverness Caledonian Thistle a priceless three points and took them another step towards achieving Bank of Scotland Premier League safety.

The Edinburgh side rolled into Inverness with a formidable record behind them, but were strangely subdued and allowed their more streetwise hosts to inflict their first defeat to non-Old Firm opposition for four months.

Caley were impressive throughout and kept their 100% home record at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium intact with stalwart Stuart Golabek enjoying another man of the match performance.

Hibs made one change to the team which progressed to the semi-finals of the Tennent's Scottish Cup at the weekend. Alen Orman came into the starting line-up in place of Steven Fletcher, who dropped out because of injury.

For Inverness, Graham Bayne dropped to the bench to make way for ex-Hearts player Juanjo.

The Jags made all the early running and had two good chances within the opening five minutes, both of which came from excellent passes from Richie Hart.

First he sliced through the Hibs rearguard with a raking cross-field ball from the right which found Golabek on the opposite wing.

The 30-year-old, who signed a new three-year deal on Tuesday, managed to gather the pass but could not take it beyond Steven Whittaker.

A minute later Hart prised them open again but, on this occasion, player-manager Brewster mistimed his jump and his attempted header ended up ricocheting off his shoulder.

As the half-hour mark approached, it was impossible to distinguish which side was supposedly brimming with confidence and fighting for a UEFA Cup place and which one was tipped for a relegation battle.

Hibs' much-vaunted brand of flowing football had abandoned them and the physical disparity between the two sets of players became increasingly evident.

Referee John Underhill was called into action twice in the space of a few minutes. He flashed a yellow card at Antonio Murray for tripping Juanjo, although the Spaniard did make the most of his fall to the turf.

Then, in the 27th minute, the official had to step in to break up a spat which developed between Gary Caldwell and Brewster after the Caley man tapped the ball away to prevent Hibs taking a quick free-kick.

Caley should have opened the scoring six minutes later, but Golabek - who had been sent though one-on-one with the goalkeeper by Russell Duncan - could only find Simon Brown's left hand with his low shot.

They eventually made the breakthrough six minutes before the interval. Juanjo, showing uncharacteristic tenacity, nipped in to steal the ball off the toes of Ian Murray and Gary Smith, who were caught flat-footed by a Ross Tokely head-flick into the six-yard box.

When the Spaniard got the ball under complete control, he coolly fired his effort high into the top corner of Brown's net.

Mowbray was clearly upset at his players' insipid showing and tried to inject life into them by replacing Antonio Murray with Kevin MacDonald at the break.

They should have drawn level within minutes, but Tokely did brilliantly to steer Riordan's shot round the post after he had rounded Mark Brown.

His hopes of a resurgence were dashed in the 52nd minute when Brewster doubled his team's advantage.

Ian Murray pushed McBain in the back on the edge of the box and was booked for his indiscretion. The Caley boss stepped up and unleashed a blazing shot which deflected off the wall before nestling in Brown's bottom right-hand corner.

Hibs threw on Ivan Sproule and Dean Shiels for Murray and Orman as they tried to chase the game and might have halved the deficit but for the crossbar, which felt the brunt of a 25-yard O'Connor shot.

Wilson added the third in rather controversial circumstances in the 77th minute. His free-kick to the back post caused unnecessary problems for Brown, who fumbled the ball on to the line. After a few seconds' deliberation, the linesman decided to award the goal and hared to the half-way line, much to Hibs' annoyance.

Hibs youngsters had been firmly put in their place by the experienced and well-oiled Caley team who, on this showing at least, need not worry about the teams behind them in the league.

Teams

Inverness CT Brown, Tokely, Dods, Munro, Golabek, Wilson, Hart (Proctor 84), Duncan, McBain, Brewster (Bayne 79), Juanjo (Fatai 79).

Subs Not Used: Fraser, McCaffrey, Hastings, Prunty.

Goals: Juanjo 39, Brewster 50, Wilson 77.

Hibernian Simon Brown, Whittaker, Caldwell, Smith, Murphy, Orman (Shiels 56), Antonio Murray (McDonald 45), Ian Murray (Sproule 56), Scott Brown, O'Connor, Riordan.

Subs Not Used: Alistair Brown, McCluskey, Morrow, Konte.

Booked: Antonio Murray, Ian Murray, Murphy.

Att: 4,443

Ref: J Underhill (Scotland).