St Johnstone halted a run of three straight Scottish Premiership defeats as Makenzie Kirk’s glancing header earned his side a 1-0 win over 10-man Kilmarnock.
After a dire first half, Kirk deftly headed in Andre Raymond’s cross to break the deadlock shortly after the interval.
Kilmarnock offered little going forward and their frustrating afternoon was capped off in the closing stages as Liam Donnelly was shown a second yellow card to earn his team’s sixth red of the season.
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari made four changes from his side’s defeat against Motherwell last time out, with Bozo Mikulic, Raymond, Kirk and Benjamin Kimpioka all coming in, while Killie boss Derek McInnes made just one change with Danny Armstrong playing instead of Matty Kennedy.
The match began 15 minutes late to account for supporters’ delays due to the adverse weather conditions as Scotland was battered by Storm Bert.
Once play got under way it was St Johnstone who had the first chance as Kirk headed narrowly wide from a Graham Carey cross.
The hosts also had the first shot on target in the 23rd minute when Kimpioka unleashed a fierce low strike that Kilmarnock goalkeeper Robby McCrorie saved easily at his near post.
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The visitors had their first effort four minutes later after Carey’s loose ball gave a chance to Marley Watkins whose shot was blocked.
Armstrong fired a free-kick narrowly wide and Kilmarnock won a flurry of corners but they came to nothing as a disappointing first half came to an end.
The second half had started in a similar vein to the first until St Johnstone took the lead in the 53rd minute with the game’s first moment of real quality.
Raymond was the creator, curling in a delicious cross from the left that Kirk met with a brilliant glancing header that McCrorie was unable to keep out, despite getting a hand to it.
Half-time substitute Adama Sidibeh came close to adding to the lead just after the hour mark with an acrobatic attempt that was well held by McCrorie, while Donnelly saw a header deflected over at the other end as the game began to open up.
Fraser Murray was next to try his luck in the 73rd minute with a curling shot that flew narrowly wide of Josh Rae’s left-hand post as the away side tried to get back on level terms.
Kilmarnock’s task was made even harder in the 85th minute as Donnelly was shown a second yellow card for catching Drey Wright.
In truth, it was St Johnstone who looked the likelier side to grab a second goal in the closing stages, with Sidideh shooting just over at the far post and Aaron Essel forcing a good stop from McCrorie.
But there were to be no more goals as St Johnstone saw out the match fairly comfortably to earn a much-needed victory that saw them leapfrog their opponents in the table.
