Alex Cleland won’t become the permanent manager of St Johnstone.
But whoever is next in the home dugout at McDiarmid Park will have a big debt of gratitude to the Perth club’s caretaker boss.
Saints have their first win of the league season at the 10th time of asking.
A quick-fire Nicky Clark double early in the contest was enough for Cleland’s side, who held on for a precious 2-1 victory despite having to play a chunk of the second half with 10 men after Dara Costelloe was sent off.
The character of some Saints players was called into question by Steven MacLean in his final round of post-match interviews in Paisley.
For this contest, they married attitude and aptitude.
A strike partnership at last
A penny for MacLean’s thoughts when he heard the news of Saints’ opening goal.
How he would dearly have loved the opportunity to start Clark and Chris Kane as a strike-partnership.
Within 42 seconds of their ever first appearance together from kick-off, they had both played a big part in their team grabbing the lead.
Graham Carey drove forward, laid the ball off to Kane and his shot from the edge of the box was saved by Will Dennis.
The Killie keeper could only direct the ball into the path of Clark, who made no mistake with his first-time shot.
The assistant referee cut short the celebrations by raising his offside flag but after VAR official, Willie Collum, reviewed the footage, the goal was given.
From 1-0 in under a minute it was 2-0 after eight.
Carey, fouled by Danny Armstrong, sent over a perfectly weighted free-kick from the left that Clark headed high past Dennis.
‘End the nightmare’ was the message on a banner unfurled by Saints fans in the Fair City Unity corner of the East Stand just before kick-off.
Starved of goals to cheer so often this season, this was the stuff of dreams.
Nobody in the home sections of McDiarmid would have been getting too carried away, mind you.
And ex-Saint, Matty Kennedy, cutting inside and narrowly missing the far post with a shot was a reminder of the visitors’ attacking threat.
Killie had more of the ball for the rest of the first half but the hosts the better chances.
Clark came close to completing a hat-trick when he got to a Luke Robinson cross before Dennis but his header looped over, a Liam Gordon 30-yard strike was deflected on to the top of the bar and Costelloe smashed an angled shot past the post.
Two-goal lead becomes one
It was Killie’s turn to make a fast start to a half, two minutes after the restart.
Kyle Vassell dispatched a Kennedy cross but Dimitar Mitov would have been disappointed that he wasn’t able to push it past the post.
Clark’s race was run just before the hour mark, with Stevie May his replacement.
Saints were predominantly in ‘what we have we hold’ mode by this point.
But they had a great chance to restore their two-goal lead on 65 minutes when May broke down the left and had two runners bursting into the box.
The substitute tried to pick out Kane when the better option would have been Costelloe at the back post.
In the end neither got the chance to shoot.
Killie are one of the biggest teams in the league and from one of their many corners, Joe Wright’s glancing header went just past the far post with Mitov beaten.
With 14 minutes left Saints were reduced to 10 men.
Costelloe’s late tackle took Kennedy out on the touchline.
Referee Callum Scott deemed it to be a challenge only worthy of yellow but Collum thought differently and it was upgraded to red on VAR review.
With six minutes left, Liam Donnelly got a header from an Armstrong corner on target.
Mitov clawed it away at his near post.
Six minutes of stoppage time were added on but Saints saw those out to get the win they thoroughly deserved.
St Johnstone – Mitov 6, Considine 7, McGowan 6.5, Gordon 7, Kane 7.5 (Brown 79), Clark 8 (59), Carey 7.5, Robinson 7, Smith 7 (Phillips 85), Sprangler 6.5, Costelloe 6. Subs not used – Richards, Gallacher, MacPherson, Jaiyesimi, Kucheriavyi, Jephcott.
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