Who would have believed it?
The last goal Michael O’Halloran scored for Saints came in a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock on November 7, 2015, and he marked his second debut for the club with a stunning strike in the final minute to ensure that history repeated itself.
The visiting fans in the stand behind Jamie MacDonald’s goal would have known (as Killie’s defenders should have done) what was going to come next when the winger collected the ball on the left touchline and began to cut inside.
He kept his mazy, diagonal run going until he reached the penalty area.
Then, just as he looked to have taken the ball too wide, he pulled the trigger, drilling a shot behind the goalkeeper from a tight angle for the decisive goal.
Midfielder Stefan Scougall, who had made way for the loan Ranger, is convinced that O’Halloran will provide the inspiration which can fire his hard-working teammates to a seventh consecutive top-six finish.
“His winner was fantastic – I lost count of the number of players that he took on,” he claimed.
“It was a great strike and a great goal.
“Every team needs one or two players to provide that little spark.
“It’s good having hard-working players but you also need that something extra.
“Mikey gave us that today and it bodes well for the rest of the season.”
In spite of having had no competitive action for a month, Saints came out of the blocks quickly and bossed the opening 45 minutes.
David Wotherspoon fired them in front after 10 minutes following another lengthy run and Murray Davidson came close to notching the goal of the season with a chip from the centre circle which hit the bar.
However, they had to dig in after the break as the home side finally found their form.
Kris Boyd equalised with a venomous free-kick from 30 yards and it took two fine saves from Alan Mannus (from Boyd and substitute Lee Erwin) to keep Tommy Wright’s men in contention.
“We played better than them in the first half and deserved to be in the lead,” said Scougall.
“Fair play to Kilmarnock because they changed it round a little and came back into it.
“They were on the front foot until we got that late goal and, at the end of the day, we’re the ones with the three points.
“To do that away from home, especially on an Astroturf pitch which isn’t the greatest, is a good sign.”
Scougall revealed that their Europa League elimination by Lithuanians FK Trakai had been eating away at them and that they used that disappointment as motivation at the weekend.
“One of the main things that got us through was the frustration we felt at going out and then having to wait so long for the next competitive game,” he said.
“We’d been playing friendlies but that frustration was still there.
“But, against Killie, I think you saw our togetherness and that we have all the ingredients you need to make a successful side.
“The work we did at training after that Europa League defeat also showed today and it helped us get the win.”
It was a very familiar Saints side on Saturday, with Scougall the only new signing to start.
“I’ve been here for a good few months now and this team is well drilled,” he said.
“The gaffer had them playing in a manner that’s effective in this league and that showed again at Kilmarnock.
“We’ll take it one game at a time, though. We have Partick Thistle in the BetFred Cup on Tuesday and then we’re at home to Motherwell next weekend.”
The visitors also received a backhanded compliment from Killie skipper Boyd.
“Sometimes you need to commit fouls, get behind the ball and make it difficult for teams,” he said.
“There’s a reason why St Johnstone are top six every year.
“It’s an example of if you go and do the dirty things in football then you’ll win games. They do that really well.”
Boyd also claimed that Saints wouldn’t have lost the goals Kilmarnock conceded.
“It was a great finish (by Wotherspoon) on his left foot but, had it been one of our players running at the St Johnstone back four, there would probably have been a foul,” he said.
