THE Caley Jags couldn't continue their winning run of results against Aberdeen last night, and slumped to a 2-0 defeat to make it 10 games without a win in the SPL.
Caley Thistle were at a disadvantage for most of the game after central defender Grant Munro was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident after 18 minutes.
Only the referee and linesman will know for sure if it was indeed a red as no one else in the ground saw anything, but the home fans were furious that the referee didn't even things out.
With the game still at 0-0, Aberdeen's McCardle went scissoring through Graeme Shinnie and deserved a red but the referee only brandished yellow.
Up against that sort of bias, the Caley Jags did superbly to play well enough to take something from the game, playing better then they have for weeks, but instead ended up losing 2-0.
Influential Irish midfielder Jonny Hayes started for Inverness after being sidelined with an ankle injury for a month.
The talented playmaker showed glimpses of what he could offer when he returned for 15 minutes in the 1-1 draw at home to Hamilton Accies at the weekend and was preferred here to Eric Odhiambo.
Blackman might have broken the deadlock in the 13th minute when he latched onto a long clearance but the Dons frontman sent his angled shot wide of the mark.
Even closer was Zander Diamond seconds later when his header from a Milsom corner hit the post.
Inverness were reduced to 10 men after 18 minutes when Munro was shown red.
The central defender was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident by referee Steve Conroy after he discussed the matter with his assistant.
Inverness manager Terry Butcher shuffled his pack to deal with the setback by switching full-back Ross Tokely to centre-half and dropping midfielder Stuart Duff into defence.
Inverness midfielder Dani Sanchez carved out an opportunity for top scorer Adam Rooney, but the striker failed to connect with the chance.
The visitors took the lead when Jack scored a wonder strike.
Blackman doubled Aberdeen's lead three minutes into the second half when his deflected shot found the net in front of the visiting fans. It appeared as if Caley Thistle defender Tokely got the last touch on the eight-yard shot.
Moments earlier Rooney squandered a glorious chance for an equaliser when he lashed an effort over the bar from around 10 yards after being found by Shinnie.
Chris Maguire would have added to Aberdeen's advantage just before the hour but for Esson, who stopped his bullet header from Milsom's corner.
Aberdeen were in the ascendancy and Blackman was next to be deprived by Esson when he was one-on-one after being played in by Dons captain Paul Hartley.
Esson was almost becoming a one-man barrier and stopped Maguire's shot from the edge of the area when the ball was laid back by Scott Vernon.
Hayes appeared to take a knock to his knee and was soon replaced by Odhiambo with just over 15 minutes to go as Inverness searched for a comeback.
It seemed to add a spark to the hosts with a couple of chances falling to Rooney, but his dry spell in the SPL continued.
The barren run, which stretches back to mid-November, looked likely to end with 10 minutes remaining when Rooney rounded keeper Jamie Langfield but Diamond cleared off the line.
On-loan Blackburn winger Aaron Doran was introduced with eight minutes to go and showed promising signs, but it was little consolation for the Highlanders whose two-month league winless run was extended.