Steven MacLean helps St Johnstone claim another comeback victory
Steven MacLean capitalised on some poor goalkeeping from Craig Samson to earn St Johnstone a 2-1 Ladbrokes Premiership victory over Motherwell at Fir Park.
Motherwell midfielder Chris Cadden netted the opener from close range two minutes after the interval but Danny Swanson hit a solo equaliser within nine minutes.
And St Johnstone sealed their second comeback victory in four days when MacLean nodded home after Samson had palmed out Chris Kane's strike from almost 25 yards.
St Johnstone made four changes following their midweek Betfred Cup win over Hearts but they bossed the opening half hour with Chris Millar making them tick in the middle.
Swanson and MacLean came close from long range and Kane earned himself a chance after chasing a long ball but the angle proved too tight
Millar then had a shot tipped over by Samson after more persistent play from Kane.
Motherwell had offered little other than one sharp passing move and some decent touches from Marvin Johnson, but they improved around the half-hour mark.
Lionel Ainsworth had some late first-half chances but could not wrap his foot around Johnson's low cross after great skill from the winger, and was then foiled by Joe Shaughnessy's excellent block after a slick move.
Saints were still creating half-chances but Motherwell came out fired up after the break.
Mark McGhee tweaked his formation to make it more like a flexible 4-4-2 than 4-3-3 with Johnson and Cadden switching flanks
The latter was in the right place to net from close range after coming in from the left wing to meet Richard Tait's deflected cutback after Scott McDonald had played the right-back in behind.
Saints almost replied immediately but Samson stopped MacLean's header following Millar's lofted ball, before McDonald fired a first-time effort just past from 18 yards after another Tait cross.
The visitors were soon level as Swanson created his sixth goal of the season from nowhere, cutting inside two Motherwell defenders from the right and stabbing the ball underneath Samson from eight yards.
Cadden was replaced by Jacob Blyth, whose early Motherwell career has been hampered by injury, and the former Leicester striker's header soon found Johnson
The winger checked on to his right foot and curled a shot that Alan Mannus tipped over.
But Motherwell fell behind with 15 minutes left when Samson failed to deal with Kane's effort and their only late chance saw substitute Dom Thomas volley over from a tight angle
Source : PA
Source: PA