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Inverness became the Scottish Premier League's Christmas number two with a comfortable home win over Dundee.

Billy McKay's scoring spree continued with a goal either side of a thunderbolt from Owain Tudur Jones before Andrew Sinnnie finished the job.

And by lifting their tally to 42, the Highlanders have matched their scoring record for the whole of last season.

Nicky Riley had briefly brought Dundee level but they will spend Christmas six points adrift at the bottom.

Terry Butcher's side are five points behind league leaders Celtic, who have a game in hand.

The visitors started brightly and a mistake by Gary Warren let Colin Nish in one-on-one with Inverness keeper Antonio Reguero, who did well to deal with the striker's effort.

Inverness opened the scoring on 12 minutes when Richie Foran was upended as he went for a rebound following one of several fine saves by Rab Douglas.

McKay stepped up to take the penalty and became just the second Inverness player to score in seven consecutive SPL games, matching Craig Dargo's feat of seven seasons ago.

Dundee were soon level with Nish's diagonal ball finding Riley unmarked on the right and he had the time and space to net the equaliser off the post.

Caley Thistle were ahead again on 24 minutes when the ball broke to Owain Tudur Jones 24 yards out and his low thunderbolt eluded Douglas.

There was a chance for Dundee to draw level again just before half-time but Nish's 19-yard free-kick was just deflected over for a corner.

With three minutes of the second half gone, McKay showed that he can score whilst lying on his back as well as standing up.

In the split second that referee Kevin Clancy may have been thinking about another penalty, the supine striker's leg miraculously extended to poke the ball into the net for his 18th of the season.

By now Inverness were well in the ascendancy and Foran blasted what looked like a straightforward chance over the bar and Andrew Shinnie also missed.

However, Shinnie made no mistake with his next effort, cutting in from the left past two defenders to score from an acute angle and complete a memorable afternoon for Caley Thistle.