St Johnstone 2-1 Dundee Utd: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game as it happened.Late show stuns Dundee UnitedSt Johnstone scored twice in the final 15 minutes to stun Dundee United and claim a dramatic 2-1 victory at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.The visitors came into the game second in the Scottish Premiership table and Calum Butcher opened the scoring just before half-time with a clever back-post finish.But Jackie McNamara's side squandered multiple chances to add to their lead and were punished when Michael O'Halloran headed home for his sixth league goal of the season.The comeback was complete after 86 minutes when Chris Millar had time to turn in the box and find the bottom corner with a low finish to give the home side a sixth consecutive victory.The first half was slow to get going, with John Rankin shooting wide for Dundee United after a neat one-two with Chris Erskine in the visitors' only early opportunity.The best chance of the opening stages came to the home side when Lee Croft's shot from the edge of the box was pushed over the crossbar by Radoslaw Cierzniak.The hosts were beginning to look like the most likely side to open the scoring when O'Halloran seized on a poor clearance by Sean Dillon and cut inside before firing a right-footed shot just wide of the near post.Moments later, a vital last-ditch intervention from Callum Morris blocked Dave Mackay's cut-back to deny the returning Steven MacLean what would have been a simple opportunity to score from close-range.It was Dundee United, though, who opened the scoring two minutes before half-timeA neat passing move saw Blair Spittal find Stuart Armstrong in the box and his lay-off set up Butcher to divert a right-footed shot past Alan Mannus and into the far corner.St Johnstone had the chance to reply on the stroke of half-time, but David Wotherspoon headed poorly over the bar from Brian Easton's cross.The visitors were first to threaten after the break when Armstrong skipped past Steven Anderson and flashed a shot at Mannus, who parried to safety.Chances were starting to flow more regularly at both ends and St Johnstone almost equalised through an unlikely source when Mackay's long-range strike forced Cierzniak into an impressive fingertip save.At the other end, Armstrong again found himself in space in the penalty area and struck into the side netting before Butcher almost grabbed a second goal when his ambitious long-range effort flew narrowly over.Dundee United were looking threatening on the counter-attack and Nadir Ciftci produced a surging solo run before firing wide from the edge of the box and shot just over with a free-kick.The visitors had an even better opportunity when Ciftci again dribbled past a number of defenders and this time crossed into the box from the right, with Spittal's downward header bouncing just past the post.But with 15 minutes to play, St Johnstone were level in controversial circumstances
Dundee United claimed Mackay had handled when he won back possession earlier in a move which eventually led to Croft's cross from the right finding O'Halloran in oceans of space to head home.St Johnstone were buoyed by their leveller and twice came close to finding a winner
Easton forced Cierzniak into a low stop and MacLean missed the target with a presentable chance from Wotherspoon's resulting corner.The comeback was sealed four minutes from time when Millar twisted and turned inside the box for what seemed like an eternity and eventually found the bottom corner with a low strike
Source : PA
Source: PA