St Johnstone are right back in the thick of the Premiership relegation battle after going down to a 2-0 defeat to Motherwell.
With Ross County and Kilmarnock both winning, Saints now sit five points ahead of bottom of the table, Dundee United, but just three above second bottom, County.
A Kevin van Veen (who else) penalty settled this match but only after he got a second bite at the cherry for his 26th goal of the season following Remi Matthews’ save from effort number one.
And then in injury-time, Mikael Mandron finished from close-range to put the lid on a frustrating afternoon for Saints.
Key moments
Saints’ passing football has improved of late and that continued at the start of this contest, with the hosts enjoying the better possession in the first half.
However, they didn’t carry the greater goal threat, which was no surprise given van Veen was in the opposition XI.
As well as looking dangerous on a couple of Motherwell counter-attacks, he had the ball in the Saints net just after the half-hour mark.
A late offside flag went up and it took a lengthy VAR check to confirm the decision made in the ground.
Saints had to absorb a cruel blow early in the second half when Motherwell took the lead from a retaken penalty.
After Andy Considine brought Stephen O’Donnell down just inside the box, van Veen’s spot-kick was saved by Matthews.
Home relief was short-lived, though, as a VAR review resulted in the Saints keeper adjudged to have ventured off his line.
And at the second attempt, van Veen made no mistake.
Saints’ star man – James Brown
With the Perth side unable to put Motherwell goalkeeper, Liam Kelly, under any sort of pressure, it had to be a defender.
And Brown was probably the best of the four.
Player ratings
Matthews 6, Brown 7, Gordon 6, Considine 5 (Bair 4), Montgomery 7, Phillips 6, MacPherson 6, Carey 6 (McLennan 4), Murphy 5 (Rudden 4), Wright 6, May 7 (Kane 4).
Manager under the microscope
Steven MacLean was denied the opportunity of fielding the same team which beat Dundee United, with Melker Hallberg picking up a training ground injury on Friday.
His replacement was Jamie Murphy.
A 4-1-2-3 formation served Saints well in the first half in terms of game-control but there wasn’t a clear-cut chance to show for it.
MacLean and his players couldn’t find a way of lifting the tempo after they fell behind, however, despite four attacking substitutions.
And the lack of a cutting edge will be the biggest worry the interim boss and Saints supporters will carry forward into their remaining three Premiership fixtures.
Man in the middle
The biggest decision by the team of officials wasn’t one in the ground.
There were no complaints made by the Saints players when Grant Irvine pointed to the penalty spot but if Matthews was off his line when he denied van Veen it couldn’t have been by much.
Conversation