David Proctor praised his Inverness team-mates for coping fantastically with his dismissal to record a dramatic 3-2 victory over Celtic.Proctor was shown a red card for bringing down Scott McDonald 20 yards from goal as the Australian raced clear of the Caley Thistle defence in the 68th minute.

Given that Inverness had just taken the lead for the first time in the match it was a pivotal moment and Proctor admitted he was glad he did not give away a penalty, with Aiden McGeady curling the resultant free-kick marginally wide.

"It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions for me but at the end of the day I am delighted we got the result and the boys managed to hold on to get me out of a hole," said Proctor. "The referee has got it spot on as I was the last man so there is no arguments with that.

"I am just happy it was outside the box because it would have been worse if I'd given away a penalty as well."

The sensational win was the first time Inverness had beaten Celtic in the SPL, although the Highland club do hold two memorable Scottish Cup victories over the Hoops.

But Proctor insisted as sweet as this success was, it was just as important for Inverness to maintain their recent good form.

He said: "To have got our first win over Celtic is massive and we are delighted with it.

"But at the end of the day it is three points and hopefully we will keep our run going as that is four wins on the bounce now."

Inverness were forced to dig deep in order to pick-up all three points as Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink struck twice in two minutes to put Celtic firmly in control.

First the Dutchman scored with a downward header from Paul Hartley's free-kick and then he got a faint touch on a shot from McGeady to again nod past Michael Fraser in the Inverness goal.

Caley Thistle pulled one back through John Rankin's penalty four minutes before the interval after Steven Pressley had fouled Marius Niculae, who was in the act of shooting.

An action-packed second half saw Vennegoor of Hesselink strike a post with an angled drive before Proctor restored parity by heading in from Don Cowie's corner.

It could have been Celtic who scored the fifth goal of an enthralling contest when Scott McDonald was ruled offside as he turned in a wild shot from Gary Caldwell.

However, it was Inverness who got the winner as Cowie stabbed a shot past Mark Brown, although they had to survive a strong spell of late pressure from Celtic with Fraser producing a wonderful save to keep out a Stephen McManus header.

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was left to bemoan his side's slackness at the back.

"It is not the result we wanted and attacking wise we played some great stuff, but defensively we were poor," he said.

More Football News from TEAMtalk