George Oakley already had a cult hero status with some Caley Thistle fans and his late leveller on Saturday only served to cement that.
As the game wound down, it appeared to be a hard-luck story for John Roberston’s side, who had more than matched Dundee for the 90 minutes but were on the verge of a Scottish Cup exit.
But Oakley’s moment of opportunism ensured they live to fight another day in the competition and they by no means looked out of place against top-flight opposition.
Around 300 sup- porters followed Caley Thistle down from the Highlands hoping for a repeat of their last visit to Dens Park, with goals from Billy Mckay and Alex Fisher prolonging their relegation battle last May.
The surprise before kick-off was the decision to drop midfielder Liam Polworth, who had performed impressively in his last outing against Queen of the South. Charlie Trafford was utilised in his place, with Robertson keen on a more disciplined holding player on a day when he expected to lose the possession battle.
Caley Thistle could ill afford to let Dundee settle and the front three of Connor Bell, Aaron Doran and Oakley were making life difficult for the Dark Blues.
Doran, in particular, looks a player reborn after a few starts in the team and will be a huge asset in the push for promotion.
The hosts were keen to get Paul McGowan on the ball regularly with the former St Mirren man dropping deeper to try to influence the game.
Trafford was given the job of marshalling him and stuck to his task, forcing him further away from dangerous areas and creating larger gaps between him and his strikers.
If they were going to pull off a surprise result they were going to have to make their chances count. It took 15 minutes for Inverness to do just that, with Dundee failing to clear Brad McKay’s long throw and the ball breaking to Doran, whose deflected strike wrong-footed Elliot Parish.
They had thoroughly merited a lead up, with their pressing clearly off-putting to Dundee’s rhythm and Darren O’Dea’s lapse in concentration was nearly punished, with quick-thinking by Parish preventing Bell having a simple finish.
Robertson’s men had to keep their wits about them as the hosts grew into the game. McKay threw himself superbly at a goal-bound Sofien Moussa effort, Mark Ridgers turned away Scott Allan’s snap-shot with his feet and former Caley Jag Josh Meekings rattled the crossbar with a thumping header, all before half-time.
A concern for Robertson would have been the way Dundee were able to target Iain Vigurs who, after an early yellow card, was vulnerable in the middle of the park. It became clear after a third dark blue shirt went past him that he was unable to do anything about it, with the threat of a red card hanging over his head.
Ridgers came to the rescue again before the break, tipping over Leitch-Smith’s shot.
At the other end Meekings showed his defensive qualities, intervening just in time to prevent Bell tapping in Doran’s chip.
The way Dundee finished the half, you had the feeling they were capable of getting back into the game. It took them just three minutes as Allan – whose influence on the game was growing – fed Leitch-Smith and his shot took a nick off an Inverness shirt to deceive Ridgers. After weathering the storm at the end of the first period and now being pegged back, Caley Jags had to get a foothold once again.
Bell remained a pest, nearly sneaking Caley Jags back in front with a header from McKay’s cross. Parish got down and clawed the ball away marvellously.
McCann taking off Allan on the hour raised eyebrows, given how focal he had become to Dundee’s gameplan, but he cannot have been counting on Vigurs handing his side the initiative. The Caley Thistle midfielder wastefully handed possession to Mark O’Hara and, hamstrung by his booking, Vigurs was powerless to stop him charging through before slotting past Ridgers.
This game was likely to give a good barometer of where this rebranded Caley Thistle are at in their development.
Dundee are by no means high-fliers in the top flight but are a capable outfit.
Inverness’ work-rate cannot be faulted and their pressing worked while Doran showed he can still cut it against Premiership opposition with Bell, Riccardo Calder and Trafford also impressing.
Oakley underlined his growing promise with the heroics at the end to snatch a replay – one they will relish in the Highlands.