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Two first-half goals in a minute gave underdogs Ross County a Highland derby victory in Inverness.

And it ended a run of 10 games without a victory for the Dingwall side.

Caley Thistle's Billy McKay struck the post before quick-fire strikes from Scott Boyd and Alex Cooper put County well in command after 17 minutes.

Inverness, who lost Ross Draper to a second-half red card, only managed to respond through Aaron Doran in the penultimate minute.

It was a potentially season-turning result for County, who notched up their first success away from home since February 2013 and their first in the Highland capital since 2009.

Inverness manager John Hughes, meanwhile, is still looking for his first home win after three outings at Caledonian Stadium since taking over as manager from Terry Butcher last month.

After six games in charge, Hughes has only enjoyed one victory - over bottom side Hearts.

County manager Derek Adams had handed Jordan Slew, the 21-year-old striker registered earlier in the morning on loan from Blackburn Rovers, a starting place ahead of Orhan Mustafi, with Gary Glen also coming into the forward line in place of Dutchman Marc Klok.

Slew showed in the first attack of the game, but his effort was well dealt with by goalkeeper Dean Brill.

Doran hit the inside of County goalkeeper Michael Fraser's left post and the rebound then fell to McKay, but the Northern Irishman uncharacteristically shot just wide.

County's opener was not long in coming and, on 15 minutes, a game of head tennis in the box ended when Glen found Boyd, who fired it in from 10 yards.

A minute later, Cooper made a powerful run forward, got in behind Gareme Shinnie and extended County's lead from just inside the box.

Adams was roused to a fury at a tackle by Danny Williams on Steven Saunders and had to be placated by the match officials.

Fraser's goalkeeping skills were called upon before half time when he had to deal with a header from Nick Ross and, after the restart, he parried a powerful shot from Draper.

The second half had less to offer in terms of scoring opportunities, although Adams was again annoyed by a tackle from Draper on Branislav Micic.

Soon after that, Draper appeared to elbow Stuart Kettlewell and was shown a red card.

However, the 10 men did manage to pull a goal back late on when the ball went over the top and Doran ran into an abundance of space to bundle it home from close range.

Caley Thistle went all out for an equaliser during what was left of the match, but it ended in a famous derby victory for their local rivals, who ended a run of six straight defeats to leave their rivals without a win in four games.