Billy Mckay and Dennis Wyness are joint record scorers at Caley Thistle with 101 goals apiece – 16 years apart.
Mckay’s goal in Tuesday’s 2-1 Viaplay Cup loss at Dumbarton hauled him level with the tally set by Wyness when he netted a penalty in a 4-0 win against Gretna in October 2007.
The lethal finishers reached the magic number with a similar number of appearances – at 243, Wyness played five less games than Mckay is currently on.
Last season, Mckay surpassed the 83 goals which was the second-best rate set by Barry Wilson, who is a first-team coach at the Caledonian Stadium.
The English-born Northern Ireland international can set a new club record against Championship rivals Airdrieonians this Tuesday.
Here, we look at three games the strikers were involved in for Inverness which few fans will forget.
DENNIS WYNESS
ICT 7-3 Ayr Utd, December 2, 2000
Few fans who were at the Caledonian Stadium almost 23 years ago will forget this goal-fest where Wyness was the undoubted star of the show in this First Division fixture.
Mike Teasdale steered Inverness ahead, but Eddie Annand and Hugh Robertson goals put the Honest Men in front.
Paul Sheerin’s spot-kick was followed by a Wyness goal to take the scoreline to 3-2.
Glynn Hurst pulled Ayr level early in the second half and that sparked a remarkable fresh response from Caley Jags.
David Bagan rifled Inverness back in front and added another with a terrific long-ranger for a two-goal cushion.
Ayr were keen for another fightback, but Wyness delivered second and third goals for a rousing result for Steve Paterson’s side.
ICT 2-0 Ross County, August 24, 2002
Goals against either half of the Old Firm or a derby rival will always raise players’ profiles.
This was not a vintage First Division season for either Highland club, with Inverness finishing fourth when promotion play-offs were not even on the agenda, while County survived the drop to the third-tier only down to goal difference.
The first north derby of the season saw Wyness deliver a first half brace at the Caledonian Stadium.
He cashed in on a defensive mishap for the first goal after seven minutes then powered home a second goal on 33 minutes,
This north clash just squeezed out Wyness’ four goals in a 5-2 home league rout against Raith Rovers in September 2001.
ICT 1-0 Celtic, March 23, 2003
It would be remiss of us to leave out the one Wyness goal in particular fans will always recall – the one which beat that season’s UEFA Cup runners-up Celtic in the Scottish Cup.
He played in the ‘Go Ballistic’ Scottish Cup triumph against the Hoops in 2000, but three years later his predatory pounce in the box to stab home a cross from Richie Hart was another massive cup result for John Robertson’s First Division aces.
Martin O’Neill’s Celts had just beaten Liverpool at Anfield four days previously, but paid the price for making too many changes.
Just as important as Wyness’ winner was the brilliant performance that night from home goalkeeper Mark Brown.
BILLY MCKAY
Dundee United 4-4 ICT, December 15, 2012
Mckay scored a hat-trick in one of the most breath-taking top-flight encounters of modern times.
Terry Butcher, who signed the striker from Northampton Town in 2011, watched on in horror at Tannadice as the Tangerines roared into a rapid 3-0 lead.
A Josh Meekings’ own goal, a Jon Daly cash-in from another mistake and a Rudi Skacel strike had the Taysiders coasting after just eight minutes.
Cue Billy Mckay. He scored two close-range headers within two first half minutes to suddenly change the tone of the contest.
Just after the hour mark, Ross Draper was bundled to the floor in the box and Mckay stepped it to make it 3-3.
United were reeling and incredibly centre half Gary Warren powered home a header from Graeme Shinnie’s delivery to make it 4-3 to the visitors.
However, United found it within them to hit back and a late Daly spot-kick ensured a share of the spoils. Mckay walked off with the match-ball for his sterling efforts.
ICT 4-3 Motherwell, May 4, 2013
Little over a decade ago, Terry Butcher and assistant Maurice Malpas had Caley Thistle flying in the top-flight and, at this point, they were in the hunt for a Euro League place in a close battle with St Johnstone.
In the end, ICT finished fourth and missed out on that tremendous prize, although two years later, under John Hughes, they did finish third and win the Scottish Cup, largely build upon the squad shaped around this period.
Motherwell were runners-up to Celtic this season and qualified for Europe, so their trip to the Caledonian Stadium this particular day had plenty riding on it.
Mckay scored a hat-trick in a dramatic win in this third-last game of the season against a Well side managed by Stuart McCall.
Inside three minutes, he was off the mark with a close-range goal and Andrew Shinnie’s composed strike put Inverness 2-0 ahead after 25 minutes.
There looked no way back for the Steelmen after Mckay got on the end of Shinnie’s sweeping cross to make it 3-0 with under half an hour played.
Scotland star James McFadden’s low strike late in the first half offered a glimmer of hope for the Lanarkshire side.
Michael Higdon’s spot-kick just after the interval made this a real contest, yet Mckay blew the chance to net from the spot after Nick Ross won the hosts a penalty.
Well goalkeeper Darren Randolph saved the striker’s effort and McFadden lashed home his second goal for the equaliser midway through the second period.
A second booking for Henrik Ojamaa reduced Motherwell to 10 men with 17 minutes to go and Mckay made up for his spot-kick miss when he slammed the ball past Randolph after he spilled a drive from Josh Meekings. What an ending!
Falkirk 0-3 ICT, April 29, 2023
Mckay reached the century just a few months ago with a deadly Scottish Cup semi-final double in a three-goal Hampden win over League One Falkirk.
He had already netted a brilliantly-taken double in the fourth round when Inverness tore Premiership Livingston apart 3-0 at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Against Falkirk, ICT got off to a dream start when Mckay tucked away an early spot-kick after Leon McCann was adjudged to have handled Jay Henderson’s cross into the box.
Dan MacKay headed home a second goal for ICT and Mckay finished the job off in sublime fashion in the second half to line up a final shot at Celtic, which they lost 3-1 in a decent performance last month.
