St Johnstone are off the bottom of the Premiership table and into 10th, with Graham Carey the hero of a 1-0 victory over Ross County.
On the day Perth fans were donating money for a GoFundMe campaign to support Carey’s wife’s battle against cancer, the 34-year-old scoring a stunning goal from outside the box to earn Craig Levein his first win as manager.
It was a result Saints thoroughly deserved after dominating the second half.
The only negative of the day was star striker, Nicky Clark, hobbling off with another injury.
Saints had raced to a two-goal half-time lead in both their previous fixtures at McDiarmid Park since the sacking of Steven MacLean but this was far from an incident-packed opening 45 minutes of football.
The hosts did their best to get the ball down and pass it when the opportunity arose – Matt Smith turning defence into attack with a counter-attack one such example.
But nothing came of that move and neither goalkeeper had a save of note to make.
Carey’s shot on the angle, dragged past the far post, was probably the nearest thing to a goal.
Not that near, though.
There were encouraging signs of lift-off after the break – for the game, and Saints in particular.
Within seconds of each other, Clark had hit the bar with a left foot overhead kick and Carey had forced a good save out of Ross Laidlaw.
Cautious optimism has been rising at McDiarmid, mainly thanks to Clark’s goals of late.
So the sight of the former Dundee United man going down – and then being substituted – just after the hour mark with no-one near him was a huge blow in this match and potentially for Perth hopes of staying up.
The mood certainly lifted when Saints scored a superb opening goal, however.
Matt Smith switched the play from right to left though Carey and after Luke Robinson and Stevie May combined to tee up the Irishman at the edge of the box, he curled an unstoppable shot into Laidlaw’s top right corner.
May came close to adding a second five minutes from time when Saints broke up the pitch down the left
St Johnstone – Mitov 6, Brown 7, Considine 7, McGowan 7, Gordon 7.5, Kane 6.5 (Spranger 81), Clark 6 (May 63), Carey 7.5, Robinson 7.5, Smith 8.5, Phillips 8. Subs not used – Richards, Gallacher, MacPherson, Kucheriavyi, Jephcott, Olufunwa, Turner-Cooke.
Saints’ star man – Matt Smith. Game by game the Welsh international is exerting his influence on this team. He played a key part in the winning goal.
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