Inverness boss Terry Butcher hailed his side's fighting spirit after watching them come from behind to claim a thrilling 4-4 draw at Dundee United.

Butcher admitted he felt his side's recent run of fine form was almost certain to come to an end when United raced into a 3-0 lead with just eight minutes on the clock.

But after a Billy McKay hat-trick levelled the scores and Gary Warren fired Inverness ahead with five minutes left, the Highland fans ended up feeling unlucky to be leaving Dundee with only a point.

Butcher said: "I can't speak highly enough of the lads in terms of how they battled back."

"All seemed lost so early on but this was all about believing in ourselves. It's difficult to imagine too many teams doing what they did.

"It would have been easy to just accept defeat but, once we got back in contention by half-time, you could see the belief in the camp growing.

"It's great to see that as a manager, and when you have that it can take you a long way.

"We're on a very good run just now which we want to keep going and, when you all muck in together like we did, you have nothing to fear."

Indeed, Caley Thistle's Billy McKay, whose goal tally moved to 16 for the season thanks to his treble strike, insists his side did not fear defeat despite the early setback.

He said "It was a terrible start but it just goes to show what can be done when you stick to your task and don't become negative."