The 28-year-old Latvian enjoyed a solid debut for Inverness in the Homecoming Scottish Cup success over Partick Thistle, despite only having initially arrived at the club on trial last Tuesday.

His performance was reminiscent of Dods, who was a prominent figure at the heart of Caley Thistle's defence for three years after arriving on a free transfer in the summer of 2004.

The 33-year-old played over 100 games for the Highland Capital side before leaving to join SPL rivals Dundee United on a free transfer in June 2007.

Many supporters believe that Dods has never been replaced, despite the likes of the now departed Stuart McCaffrey, Phil McGuire, David Proctor and youngster Jamie Duff all having played alongside current skipper Grant Munro since then.

Mihadjuks, however, played like a man who had been there all his life, not less than a week, inevitably bring about comparisons between himself and the popular Dods.

"People might have seen it as a gamble to play Pavels, but having seen him in training, I was confident he would be able to come straight into the first-team," said Caley Thistle manager Brewster, who has signed Mihadjuks until the end of the season.

"I could also tell how well he was doing by the reaction from the other players in training last week. They all seemed very impressed by him. First and foremost, he is simply a defender who enjoys defending. His English is not great, yet he has come to a different country and adapted very quickly.He also likes to keep it simple. He wins the ball and then gives it to a team-mate to get on with the job and certainly played very well on Saturday."

Mihadjuks fine first showing in a Caley Thistle shirt was overshadowed slightly by another new signing, Filipe Morais. The 23-year-old arrived alongside former Hibs team-mate Thierry Gatheussi last Friday, with both players also agreeing a deal until the conclusion of the current campaign.

Despite only meeting his new team-mates hours before kick-off, Portuguese-born Morais hit two goals to help ease Caley Thistle into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

"He certainly showed that he can give us a spark," added Brewster. "Like the other two new signings, he's given everyone a lift and you only had to look at his performance to see why I was so keen to bring him here."

Brewster also praised Caley Thistle's other scorer at the weekend, Iain Vigurs, who has been impressing of late with his performances for the first-team.

New Caley Thistle signing Pavels Mihadjuks clears from Partick's Gary Harkins. Ken Macpherson

The 20-year-old is out of contract in the summer, but has been offered a new deal. Brewster, however, has urged Vigurs to simply concentrate on his football and not on other matters off the field.

"At the moment, he's doing the business on the park," he stated. "I've been delighted with him, but it's now up to Iain to keep his head down and continue to work hard."

The inclusion of the likes of both Mihadjuks and Morais may have been a slight surprise, but the decision to give Lionel Djebi-Zadi only his third appearance of the season did raise a few eyebrows, while Michael Fraser made his first start in goal since Caley Thistle's 5-0 humbling at Ibrox just over two months ago.

Djebi-Zadi, however, only lasted 45 minutes before being replaced at the interval by the usual occupier of the left back slot, Richard Hastings.

"I felt he had performed well in training in the build-up to the Partick game, but on Saturday it seemed that any joy they were getting was coming down our left-hand side," said Brewster about the Frenchman, who is out of contract at the end of the season having only joined the club last summer.

"He is, however, still a Caley Thistle player and that will continue to be the case."

Having successfully negotiated Partick, Caley Thistle can now look forward to a fifth round home tie against either Kilmarnock or Ayr United next month after they drew 2-2 at the weekend.

"I've no preference about who we get," added Brewster. "I'm just happy to have got another home tie, which can be very important in a competition like the Scottish Cup."

Meanwhile, Brewster will run the rule over Chester City player Tony Dinning this week after the 33-year-old arrived in Inverness on Sunday night for a trial.

The Caley Thistle manager, however, has decided not to follow up his interest in fellow trialists, Latvian midfielder Vladimirs Kolesnicenko and Scottish striker Ryan Harper.

sports@inverness-courier.co.uk

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