Kilmarnock 0-1 St Johnstone

Murray Davidson's goal ensured St Johnstone beat Kilmarnock

St Johnstone moved seven points clear in fifth place in the Scottish Premiership with victory at Kilmarnock.

Murray Davidson slotted the game's only goal two minutes before half-time, side-footing home from inside the box.

Killie's Souleymane Coulibaly had a free kick saved by Zander Clark, before his counterpart Jamie MacDonald brilliantly denied Graham Cummins.

Kilmarnock's Luke Hendrie was sent off in the dying minutes for two bookable offences in quick succession.

Storm Barbara subsided enough to give the players a fighting chance of providing some football and they made a decent fist of it.

Danny Swanson, close to signing a new deal with St Johnstone, was again outstanding for his team, inventive and creative in the middle of the park - although he did fade and was eventually replaced by Liam Craig.

Kilmarnock were forced to replace the injured Rory McKenzie with Dean Hawkshaw after just 32 minutes and that was a blow, for McKenzie had been closest to scoring for them in the first half with a low shot which troubled Zander Clark.

It was a better game than the crowd of 3,056 had any right to expect, given the weather conditions.

However, Davidson's goal was all too easy from a Kilmarnock perspective.

Blair Alston floated in a corner from the right and almost casually Davidson stepped on to it to open his right foot and slot it beyond goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald.

The home support had MacDonald to thank for keeping them in the game with a fabulous double save, but it was to no avail.

And Kilmarnock's night ended with further problems. Hendrie was first yellow carded for a crude challenge as St Johnstone tried to waste time at the corner flag.

He followed that up within seconds with a second yellow for what looked like comments made to referee Stephen Finnie.

The result saw Lee Clark's men drop to eighth, while St Johnstone moved to within one point of fourth-placed Hearts.

Post-match reaction

Kilmarnock manager Lee Clark: "We didn't deserve anything. We started average at best. We have to be more ruthless, we can't keep relying on Souleymane Coulibaly to score wonder goals. The second half deteriorated into long balls.

"I take responsibility for the way we deteriorated. I made the wrong decision with the first substitution. Not that putting Kris Boyd on was the wrong one, but the person I took off, Nathan Tyson, was the wrong decision, I should have had Kris and Nathan on together."

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "Kilmarnock looked threatening in the first half. We gave away silly free-kicks and gave them an opportunity to put balls in our box, but we dealt with them well.

"As the second half wore on I thought we looked the more threatening and we saw the game out which was important."