St Johnstone 2-1 Motherwell
Michael O’Halloran gave St Johnstone fans a Halloween fright.
But he also came up with two tricks and treats to send them home happy, celebrating a crucial win.
The victory was Saints’ first in seven league games, and takes them above Partick Thistle into eighth in the Premiership.
When O’Halloran was robbed of the ball near his own penalty area and Lionel Ainsworth punished him by giving Motherwell an early lead, this had the makings of yet another self-inflicted defeat for Tommy Wright’s men.
But the McDiarmid forward redeemed himself with an equaliser before the break and then clinched all three points for Saints with a superb solo goal.
There were no shocks in the Saints starting line-up, with Gary McDonald and James McFadden coming in for injured duo Murray Davidson and Simon Lappin.
The Perth men have made a few slow starts at McDiarmid this season, and here was another one.
The visitors were the livelier side in the first few minutes and Zaine Francis-Angol tested Alan Mannus with an early shot from the corner of the box that the Northern Irishman dealt with well.
It was eight minutes before Mannus’ opposite number was called into action, if you could call it that. O’Halloran did well to make space for himself on the edge of the box but his effort was an anti-climax and trundled its way to Dan Twardzik.
It was about to get a whole lot worse for the former Bolton Wanderers man though.
On 13 minutes he was caught in possession about 25 yards from his own goal and the end result was Lionel Ainsworth lashing the ball high past Mannus for the opening goal.
It wasn’t the first time this season O’Halloran has been exposed in this manner, and Frazer Wright wasn’t shy in pointing out the error of his ways.
Brian Graham got a reward for trying his luck from distance when his shot mid-way through the first half took a deflection for a corner.
McFadden sent the set-piece beyond the back post, where Twardzik tried and failed to claim it. Dave Mackay hooked the ball back into the six yard box, with Twardzik now out of position, but there were no takers for Saints.
A home equaliser nearly came out of the blue on 36 minutes.
Saints had a free-kick over 30 yards out and, with the big men up from the back, McFadden was sizing up a cross into the box. Mackay caught everybody Twardzik included by surprise with a shot at goal that had the keeper beaten, but just went wide of the far post.
At the other end Henrik Ojamaa managed to fend off several attempts by Perth defenders to close him down, and teed up Ainsworth with a cut-back to the 18-yard line.
This time he didn’t have the beating of Mannus, who pulled off a fine reflex save.
Instead of going two behind, Saints were level seconds later.
They launched a quick counter attack which culminated in Lee Croft crossing low from the right and O’Halloran drilling the ball past Twardzik from 10 yards.
Saints would have been glad to finish the half on level terms as Motherwell had two chances to restore their lead before the break.
First Ojamaa again proved elusive and set up John Sutton. Had it not been for a poor first touch the centre-forward would probably have scored.
And then, with the last kick of the first 45, Ainsworth had time and space to pick his spot but missed the target.
We had to wait eight minutes after the re-start for a second half shot at goal from either side.
It came from Fraser Kerr, who had caught the Saints defence flat-footed with a strong run down the Motherwell right.
Instead of working Mannus with a low shot on a greasy pitch, Kerr tried to be too clever, and his attempted lob sailed over the bar.
On 58 minutes Ainsworth put a cross into the danger area that was begging to be finished. Sutton was slow to react though, and it flashed across goal untouched.
Ojamaa had twice seen set-ups fail to be converted in the first half but on 63 minutes he decided to go it alone, and his low angled drive forced a good save out of Mannus.
Saints had a near thing of their own nine minutes later.
Croft crossed from deep and Wright rose highest. The centre-back made a better job of his header than he did at Ibrox in midweek when the winger had picked him out, and Twardzik was at full stretch at the base of his left hand post to keep it out.
Wright’s men were now on top.
Mackay got into a great position after cutting inside from the right but he squandered it with a ball that was cut out.
The Saints pressure paid off on 81 minutes when McFadden picked out O’Halloran.
The ex-Celtic player killed the ball with his first touch, deceived two defenders who collided into each other and then calmly slotted the ball past Twardzik.
O’Halloran squandered an opportunity to put the game out of Motherwell’s reach when he and McFadden counter-attacked and were two-on-one.
Instead of playing the ball back to his team-mate (which was the sensible option) the goalscorer went for a hat-trick but saw his shot charged down.
It didn’t prove to be a costly decision as Saints held on to their lead without too much stress.
St Johnstone Mannus, Mackay, Wright, Anderson, Millar, McDonald, Graham, McFadden (Caddis 85), Croft (Miller 89), Easton, O’Halloran. Subs not used Banks, Morgan, Brown, Gilchrist, Easton.
Motherwell Twardzik, Hammell (O’Brien 85), Ramsden, McManus, Ainsworth, Sutton, Vigurs (Law 88), Lasley, Francis-Angol (Erwin 81), Kerr, Ojamaa. Subs not used Neilson, Reid, Carswell, McHugh.
Referee Kevin Clancy.
Attendance 2,531