Dundee United’s relegation from the Premiership now looks inevitable after a dreadful afternoon for them at Tannadice.
Five points off Kilmarnock before kick-off, what was required was an aggressive, attacking display against a side that had only won one match in nine.
Sadly, the Tangerines produced a performance lacking the necessary fight and quality, and they ended the day eight points from the play-off position, with Killie winning against St Johnstone.
The team was a shadow of the one that beat Saints last week, and Mixu Paatelainen and his men must now produce a footballing miracle to avoid slipping down to the Championship.
United were OK in the first few minutes, during which time Guy Demel made keeper Owain Fon-Williams work with a 20-yard free-kick.
But it didn’t take long for things to take a turn for the worse.
Eiji Kawashima made an excellent save from Miles Storey on 13 minutes but seconds later he was given no chance after Ross Draper got in behind the United defence far too easily and squared the ball to Storey for a tap-in.
On 26 minutes the Japanese keeper finger-tipped a Greg Tansey long-range effort round the post and he had to be alert to keep out a Gary Warren near post header from the subsequent corner.
Caley Thistle should have been 2-0 up six minutes before the break.
Greg Tansey split the United defence with a ball down the middle (not the hardest thing to do given the way the home team were playing) and Storey fired his shot over the bar.
There was an improvement of sorts after the restart, with Demel causing a bit of mayhem in the Caley Thistle box and Carl Tremarco ending up heading the ball away from near his line.
But that improvement lasted all of five minutes.
By that point the hosts were 2-0 up when Iain Vigurs drilled a low 20-yard shot home after United failed to clear a corner.
United had all three subs on the pitch within the hour and the last of them (Sean Dillon for Gavin Gunning) was a bizarre affair.
Gunning picked up the ball in open play to try and get the game stopped so he could come off with an injury, then sat down.
Referee Craig Thomson was clearly in a forgiving mood as the Irishman wasn’t given a yellow card on his way off the pitch.
There could have been a flicker of hope for United on 66 minutes when Kyle Knoyle popped up in the six yard box unmarked, however Fon-Williams saved brilliantly with his right foot.
Kawashima prevented a third goal late on when he tipped a looping Vigurs 25-yard shot over the bar.