St Mirren 2-2 St Johnstone: Nicky Clark's 96th-minute effort earns visitors point

Ten-man St Johnstone salvaged a draw deep into injury-time against St Mirren in a compelling Scottish Premiership encounter in Paisley.

Graham Carey had given the visitors the lead from the penalty spot, but Greg Kiltie's stunning volley pulled the hosts level before Alex Mitchell was sent off for St Johnstone following a VAR review.

The late concession drops St Mirren from joint third to eighth in the division, but they do extend their unbeaten home run to seven matches. St Johnstone are sixth, ahead of the Paisley side only on goal difference.

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Home comforts have been a necessity rather than a luxury for St Mirren of late, softening the blow of the travelling troubles they have endured in the shape of consecutive away defeats.

There was a relaxed nature about the home side's play in the opening stages, confining their visitors in their own final third. Curtis Main had a couple of pops from 20 yards, the first forcing a fine parry out of the returning Remi Matthews and the second gliding high over.

Taking note of the warning shots, the visitors ventured down the right through Drey Wright, whose dinked effort struck the trailing arm of Scott Tanser. After a lengthy VAR check, Euan Anderson awarded a spot-kick, with Carey netting.

St Mirren, though, would get back level with a stinging strike. A clearance fell sweetly to the onrushing Kiltie, whose volley flashed under Matthews.

An uneventful second half sprung into life with the interference of VAR again. Mitchell's sliding tackle was originally met with a yellow card from Anderson, but after being asked to peek at the drenched monitor, the referee upgraded that to a red for the St Johnstone defender.

Ramping up the pressure, St Mirren soon found a second goal. O'Hara, for the second time in two games, found the back of the net, this time with a sensational 25-yard strike into the top corner.

The Paisley side's attempt to run down the clock deep in injury-time faltered when Clark creatively connected with Ali Crawford's curling cross to snatch a point for the 10-man visitors.

Player of the match - Nicky Clark

St Johnstone dig deep with squad depth showing - analysis

Callum Davidson spoke of the competition for places in his St Johnstone ranks and making four changes to the XI that defeated Rangers is a statement in itself. But it paid off.

Summer recruits Nicky Clark and Ryan McGowan were to the fore in Paisley. The former's aerobic goal shows there is life in the experienced striker yet, while the latter's versatility proved vital when St Johnstone were down to 10.

For St Mirren, the confidence they play with at home is night and day to what appears on the road. Even without the influential Keanu Baccus in midfield, the control they held at times against an in-form side was domineering.

What they said

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "It's a wonderful strike, but I'm aggrieved with the amount of time that was played - six minutes is hard to take but we can only control our controllables and we didn't defend the cross.

"We have come so far and a bit of realism shows that a lot has been improved at the football club."

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: "In the second half, we changed a few things and went about things a bit better. We controlled the game a lot better and then the sending off changed the game.

"St Mirren took the lead through through a fantastic goal and you're just hoping at that point to get something out of the game and it just shows the character we have and where we are as a group."

What's next?

There is one round of fixtures left before the break for the World Cup. St Mirren host Rangers in Saturday's early kick-off (12:30 GMT) while St Johnstone travel to Fir Park to face Motherwell (15:00).