Don't let the scoreline fool you, this game was much closer than a 6-0 thrashing as it would appear to be. Elgin City were equal to their SPL opponents for a good hour of the game, but in the end Inverness' superior fitness as a full time club became apparent as the Elgin boys became tired, and were able to take their chances well in the second half. Inverness showed off their attacking intents very early on, with some good build-up play from Eric Odhiambo leaving Graeme Shinnie with a sight on goal, but his shot was blocked and it went out for a corner, which was wasted.

Elgin fought back, with Neil McDonald playing a long ball forward into the path of Craig Gunn, but last season's top scorer's shot was quite tame and it was easily saved by Ryan Esson.

Ten minutes later and it was Gunn again terrorising the Caley defence, some brilliant footwork left him clean through on goal but his shot was just wide. After a good start to the game Elgin started to fade, and it took some very strong defensive work to stop Inverness taking the lead, with 3 goal-line clearances and some good goalkeeping from Steven Dunn keeping the score level. Inverness might have had the majority of the possession in the first half but Elgin were playing very well.

The second half started much the same way the first half had finished, with Adam Rooney creating two good opportunities for himself but blazed his shot over on them both.

Caley were pressing the Elgin defence hard, and it was no real surprise when they took the lead on the 65th minute. A Danni Sanchez through ball released Adam Rooney down the right, and his cutback left Eric Odhiambo with one of the easiest goals he'll score, a simple tap-in from point blank range.

The second goal came only 6 minutes later, Adam Rooney found himself one on one with the keeper and slotted his shot into the bottom right corner.

Elgin were not going to let the 2 goals get them down, and they almost flew right back into the game when Gunn easily beat the Inverness defence and squared the ball to Nicolson, but he just couldn't hit his shot properly and in the end it was well wide.

It was game over for Elgin when Shane Sutherland mishit his cross and it crept in at the far post on the 79th minute. Sutherland had looked offside when the ball was played to him and was perhaps lucky that the linesman's flag stayed down. Inverness then took full advantage of Elgin's tired players in the last 10 minutes, with Shane Sutherland grabbing another 2 goals to complete his hat trick and Eric Odhiambo scoring with the last kick of the game. While the result might appear like a rout to most people, Elgin will probably not be too disheartened by the performance against very strong opposition.

Elgin City: - Dunn, Niven (Frizzel 45), Dempsie, Kaczan, McDonald (Dunn 52), O'Donoghue, Gunn (McLeod 79), Wilson, Crooks (Smith 71), Nicolson (McNab 85), Jake Inglis. Unused subs – Cameron, Edwards, Robertson

Inverness Caledonian Thistle: - Esson, McCann, Tokely, Munro, Golabek (Innes 53), Sanchez (Blumanshtein 75), Duncan, Rooney (Sutherland 77), Odhiambo, Shinnie. Unused subs – Tuffey

Referee: - Scott MacDonald