Inverness 0 Hamilton 1

Scorer: HAMILTON: Offiong

RICHARD OFFIONG insists top of the table Hamilton Accies are fearless - but can put the frighteners on SPL rivals this season.

But yesterday's matchwinner in the Highlands insists the shock troops will never let their lofty status go to their heads.

A sensational strike from the one-time Newcastle United hitman was enough to keep Billy Reid's battlers at the top of the pile.

But he stressed: "We're not getting ahead of ourselves. We've had a good start, but we know it's going to be a very tough season.

"We're just looking to survive and that is still our only target. We still want to play football and win games in the right way and that's the way the gaffer encourages us to play."

Offiong, who hit 15 goals in the First Division last season, is convinced he can enjoy a healthy return a league above.

He said: "It's good to get off and running in the top league. A winning and scoring start is just excellent as strikers thrive on confidence. We are probably still running on confidence from winning the league last season.

"With the players we have in the squad, we knew we could do well in this league whatever other people thought. We just want to show everyone what we can do. There's no fear.

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"We know we have to work very hard and that's what we intend to do.

"I thought the back four today were particularly good and won just about everything that came their way.

"They didn't give their strikers a sniff, really. Andy Barrowman proved last season what a good striker he is, yet he had nothing to go with today."

Offiong's goal came after Jamie Duff mis-timed a high ball but Caley Thistle boss Craig Brewster was quick to defend his 19-year-old centre half. Brew said: "Jamie Duff was superb today. It was a mistake, but Offiong still had to run 40 yards and pull off a great finish.

"I'm all the more convinced tonight that Jamie will have a great future.

"All I said to him at half-time was to keep his head up and he continued to do very well.

"From our point of view today we were just pedestrian with the ball.

"We will never cause opponents problems playing like that. The most disappointing thing is that it was night and day from how we performed last weekend at Pittodrie."

Despite several cup encounters down the years, these two teams had never met in league action through Caley Thistle's 14-year existence.

It was not a bad start, then - a top of the table, top-flight confrontation for the opener. But the glamour of that billing failed to show in the quality of play despite a desire from both teams to get the ball down and pass. In the end, it took Duff's lapse to separate the sides and preserve Accies' place at the top flight summit.

Billy Reid's battlers prevailed after Offiong punished the error and drove through to score. An injury to home skipper Grant Munro, along with David Proctor's ban, gave the 19-year-old his chance.

He soon soothed any early nerves with a crunching tackle on James McArthur after only 11 minutes.

Accies were limited in posing a threat, although Offiong should have done much better after 36 minutes when he skied a six-yard header from Simon Mensing's knock-back. Cowie was driving Caley Thistle on through the middle but had his heels clipped by McArthur on a run three minutes before half-time.

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Dougie Imrie stepped over the free-kick but Cowie's attempt from 22 yards dropped lamely over the bar.

Just as the pace of the game lulled even more before half-time, Caley Thistle were caught napping.

Young Duff was carelessly dispossessed near the left touchline and Offiong tore in on goal and calmly slipped the ball past Michael Fraser. Irish Under 21 international striker Adam Rooney was thrown on by Brewster at the break to lend Barrowman support.

Play degenerated into scrappiness midway through the second half, but Accies had a couple of late chances and the points went south.

A highly-satisfied Reid stressed: "For our goal, there was a mistake but Richard still had a lot of work to do. He showed his pace and the finish was sensational.

"Inverness pinned us back a bit more in the second half but our two centre halves were immense.

"I think we deserved to win. There's no fear factor at this football club. We came here to win and I'm a happy man tonight.

"People made a big issue of the importance of us getting points early or we would face disaster.

"I never saw it like that, but I can't ask for more than six points from six after coming up last year."

INVERNESS: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Duff (McAllister 81), Hastings, Imrie, Black, Cowie (Wilson 70), Duncan (Rooney 46), McBain 6, Barrowman. Subs: Esson, Djebi-Zadi, Wilson, McAllister, Gillespie, Wood.

HAMILTON: Cerny, Stevenson, Swailes, McLaughlin, Easton, Mensing, McArthur, Neil, McCarthy (Lyle 90), Graham (Corcoran 57), Offiong (Akins 57). Subs: Murdoch, Elebert, Thomas, Sorsa.