Kenny Miller had a penalty saved eight minutes from time as Rangers missed the chance to move five points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League.Inverness winger Johnny Hayes opened the scoring with a scorching left-foot strike into the top corner of the net that gave Allan McGregor no chance.
Rangers replied through Miller when he cracked home his 20th goal for the club this season in the 57th minute.
Adam Rooney and Hayes tested McGregor before Esson saved Miller's spot-kick.
Eric Odhiambo would have been a substitute had Nick Ross not been suffering from illness, but he looked determined to prove to manager Terry Butcher that he ought to be a first pick, darting at Madjid Bougherra and David Weir in the opening exchanges.
Rangers, by contrast, were hesitant in the first half, the ball bouncing off their strikers and the passes from midfield often awry.
Their manager Walter Smith had drafted Sasa Papac and Vladimir Weiss into the starting line-up, with youngsters Kyle Hutton and Darren Cole dropping out of the team that drew 1-1 with Bursaspor in midweek.
Adam Rooney's power and eye for goal this season are reasons why Inverness have been mentioned in the same breath as European football.
The 22-year-old Irish striker left Weir flat-footed 25 yards from goal, picked up Odhiambo's pass and bore down on McGregor, who saved his low shot from eight yards.
At the other end, Vladimir Weiss clipped a ball over Caley Thistle's defence and Steven Naismith caused a flutter in the stomach of keeper Ryan Esson with his glancing header, which looped over the crossbar.
Hayes' crossing is a weapon that Butcher has encouraged his team to use. His in-swinging deliveries from the right were threatening McGregor's goal but Ricky Foster did well to head clear with Richie Foran lurking.
Miller has scored five of Rangers' last six goals and looked likely to increase that ratio in the 28th minute in a swift move from right to left that cut Inverness open.
Steven Davis took a quick free-kick to Steven Naismith and his ball through to his scampering Scotland team-mate gave him the chance to shoot with his left - which he took with his right and his effort sailed over the bar.
The goal that gave Inverness a half-time lead was a cracker, a swerving left-foot strike into the top corner of the net from Hayes that will have reminded McGregor, painfully, of Liam Miller's strike for Hibs at Ibrox.
Callum Murray issued a yellow card to Foster for a dreadful challenge on Graeme Shinnie, an incident that led to Russell Duncan and Weir being booked too, for the stramash that followed.
James Beattie came on for the ineffective Weiss at the interval and Rangers began the second period with a greater appetite.
Davis broke from midfield and shot straight at Esson from outside the box, then Miller managed to round the grounded Inverness keeper but fired wide.
The latter made no mistake in 57 minutes, though. Davis spotted Miller, who had come short to create some space for himself, and he blasted his 20th Rangers goal of the season low into the goal off the post from 20 yards.
But Inverness were keen to push for the three points that would take them to their highest ever league position.
Within two minutes, Foran found Rooney with an incisive pass and he was denied a goal when McGregor blocked with his legs, then the goalie leapt to his feet to tip Hayes' follow-up header over.
Tokely felled Miller on the edge of the D as Rangers turned the screw, Beattie having only just failed to connect with a ball slid across the face of the goal by Steven Whittaker.
Papac knocked the free-kick harmlessly over the bar.
Rangers looked the side more likely to grab a winner and Smith and his assistants in the Rangers technical area were horrified when Naismith lobbed the ball over the bar when it seemed simpler to score.
Butcher did not have many options on the bench, with Kenny Gillet, Chris Innes and Gil Blumenshtein training again but not fit and David Proctor and Kevin McCann out with knee injuries.
He sent 36-year-old Roy McBain on for Odhiambo to give Inverness greater presence in midfield but the direction of play continued towards Esson's goal.
Beattie won a soft penalty, a rather theatrical fall to the turf with eight minutes of the game remaining, as Rangers tried to come from a goal down to win for the seventh time this season.
Miller hit his penalty low and straight down the middle of the goal and Esson, who had dived to his right, saved with a trailing foot.
And the Rangers number nine screwed a shot wide of the post from eight yards in the second minute of added time.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport