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Hibernian's chances of reaching the top six of the Scottish Premier League took another blow with defeat against Inverness at Easter Road.

With the home defence in disarray, Ross Draper lobbed keeper Ben Williams for a 48th-minute opener.

Gary Deegan's shot near the hour-mark deflected off Leigh Griffiths to level matters, despite claims of offside.

Andrew Shinnie's 65th-minute shot evaded the Hibs defence to seal the points for the Highlanders.

Caley Thistle's place in the top half is assured, but Hibs now require a win in their next match against Celtic to have any chance of climbing above Kilmarnock and Aberdeen back into the top half of the table before the SPL split.

The match started at a quality and pace that belied the poor-looking, weather-beaten Easter Road surface.

Kevin Thomson lined up the first shot, while Caley Thistle countered with two quick breaks in the opening seven minutes.

From those attacks their best chance fell to Owen Tudur Jones who, reluctant to hit with his left foot, awkwardly shifted to his right to take the chance but ended up taking the power out of the resulting effort.

Alex Harris settled into the match quickly in his first Hibs start and soon tested right-back David Raven with his willingness to run at the full back.

Ryan McGivern's shot grazed the Inverness goal frame and, at the other end, Richie Foran tried his luck from outside the box but also failed to trouble the goalkeeper.

The second half yielded all the goals, the first of the trio coming when a long pass from Foran found Draper, who controlled and then lobbed the ball beyond Williams.

Hibs were quick to seek an equaliser, Thomson and Doyle setting up Griffiths but the striker was foiled as he delayed his shot.

Griffiths, who'd scored in four of the previous five home games, continued his impressive form but appeared to know little about the deflection that wrong-footed Antonio Reguero after the goalkeeper had looked well placed to gather Deegan's 20-yard shot.

If fortune had smiled on Hibs with their equaliser, it soon frowned upon them when they conceded again.

Shinnie was unmarked when he gathered in the box but it was a deflection off James McPake that took the eventual shot beyond Williams.

McPake showed great timing and composure with a skilful tackle to deny Billy McKay what would have been a killer third goal and kept the home side in the hunt.

Hibs, without a home league win in 2013, sought to salvage a point but their final onslaught was deftly dealt with by a Caley Thistle side that saw the game out to a satisfactory conclusion without undue concern.