Terry Butcher was thrilled as Inverness claimed a 4-1 win at Dundee to climb to third place in the SPL on Friday night.
Billy McKay scored the first and fourth goals, with Gary Warren and an Andrew Shinnie penalty completing the scoring, as the visitors extended their unbeaten run to six at Dens Park.
Butcher said: "Delightful - 4-1 looks a bit of a hammering, it certainly wasn't.
"It wasn't until we got the third goal that we could breathe a little bit easier. The fourth was the icing on the cake.
"It was a hell of a game - three goals in the first 10 minutes. We love Friday night football."
Colin Nish scored after 13 minutes to pull a goal back for Dundee, who had chances to level before Shinnie's 81st-minute spot-kick and McKay's late fourth.
Butcher praised the response of his players as they secured a third straight win in a six-match unbeaten run.
"I've got a fantastic group of players that work their socks off," he said.
"Confidence is sky high and they're a credit to themselves because they work really hard.
"They've got resilience, they've got toughness and they can play. I thought they played some lovely stuff tonight."
McKay replaced injured captain Richie Foran and was praised by his manager, as was Shinnie.
"He (McKay) was busy tonight, he was brave, he was strong," Butcher added.
"Andy Shinnie today was irresistible. He played really well."
The hosts have now lost five successive games to sit four points adrift in an otherwise tight SPL table.
Dundee boss Barry Smith welcomed Friday night football, but he may have wished for a quiet night in after his side made a dreadful start.
Smith said: "I'm angry because I don't like getting beaten, but it's the manner of the defeat that's the problem.
"We can't afford to be giving teams two goals head start.
"Our defending through the game wasn't good enough.
"We don't seem to give ourselves a chance."
Mistakes are repeated week to week, frustrating Smith, but there was one major plus from the loss.
Smith said: "The massive positive was Nicky Riley coming back in for his first start of the season. I thought he did extremely well and gave us something different."
