Elgin began brightly but capitulated on the first Inverness attack of the evening after five minute. Fielding a strong lineup which included summer signings Richard Hastings, Fox, Juanjo and Bayne, the visitors got off to the perfect start and opened the scoring as visiting forward Steven Hislop beat Stuart Cumming on the right and fired a low cross towards goal. Home left-back Stephen Black was the unfortunate recipient as he was hustled by a lurking forward and was pressed into hammering the ball into his own net from a yard out.
City competed well and in fact dominated much of the game after that but lacked a threat in front of goal. The lack of firepower became even more frustrating as Caley demonstrated their attacking prowess to double their lead five minutes before half-time. Barry Wilson's corner was met by Liam Fox's volley which was cleared off the line by Black, but ex-Aberdeen defender Stuart McCaffery pounced to head in from six yards.
Two minutes later, a quickfire third hit City after Liam Fox played a teasing cross to the far post and Wilson beat Black to arrow a shot past Keiron Renton.
After the break, City came out fighting and Alexander Bone only just failed to make contact with Allan Dempsie's pinpoint cross. Dempsie was revelling in a new role on the right-wing, and the prospect of him on this form coupled with Andy Roddie on the left this season must have instilled some hope in the City support.
A Hislop snapshot from long range went close to troubling Renton. But the former Blackburn goalkeeper was eventually called into action again after 73 minutes and failed to deal with a cross, allowing Inverness to extend their lead through Lewis McKinnon's header.
Wilson completed the scoring with just over ten minutes remaining as City were left reeling, but very much looking forward to reversing their fortunes in the upcoming competitive fixtures.