St Johnstone 1-1 Aberdeen: Nine-man hosts hold on
- Published
Highlights: St Johnstone 1-1 Aberdeen
Bottom side St Johnstone drew with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership despite having two men sent off within seven minutes of equalising.
Matty Kennedy slotted home with 20 minutes left after Sam Cosgrove had fired Aberdeen ahead before the break.
The hosts then lost their discipline, with Murray Davidson and Callum Hendry shown straight red cards.
Aberdeen could not capitalise, though still edge three points clear of fourth-place Motherwell.
St Johnstone, meanwhile, stay bottom but only on goal difference as they join the three sides above them on 11 points.
Drab match springs to life in feisty finish
The feisty, frantic finish to this game was a world apart from the drab 70 minutes that came before, Cosgrove's superb opener aside.
That strike - the Englishman's 17 league strike of the season - marked a dreary start but neatly illustrated his formidable attributes. A long ball over the top from Joe Lewis was cushioned into his path and he used his power and tall frame to shake off Jason Kerr before reversing it past the St Johnstone defender and firing a low shot with his weaker left foot into the bottom corner.
The goal married Cosgrove's strength, skill and confidence, and demonstrated his evolution into a talismanic forward having arrived from Carlisle 22 months ago with just a single professional goal to his name and not much else. But thereafter Aberdeen only really threatened at the death with the numerical advantage, and even then their attack was ponderous.
That said, they should have had a penalty minutes after the opener when Wallace Duffy used his hand to divert a cross which looked destined for Curtis Main's head, but referee Kevin Clancy did not spot it, and when Niall McGinn had the chance to make the oversight immaterial he skewed the rebound wide with the goal at his mercy.
After the break St Johnstone improved without great incision, until Mikey Devlin's misread ball allowed the impressive Kennedy to speed through and finish brilliantly to haul them level.
What followed was nothing short of bizarre, though ultimately not costly for St Johnstone. Experienced midfielder Davidson first planted his studs on the ankle of Craig Bryson and was dismissed, and 21-year-old Hendry followed his team-mate's lead with a late lunge on Lewis Ferguson, which sparked furious scenes on the McDiarmid Park pitch.
With 16 minutes - including stoppage time - to retrieve a game that was slipping away from them, Aberdeen failed to regain enough composure to punish St Johnstone's recklessness.
Andrew Considine, on his 500th appearance for the club and wearing the captain's armband, steered a free header at Zander Clark, and at the death Cosgrove's shot was directed across goal and eventually fell to Shay Logan, who blasted wide.
In the circumstances a point for St Johnstone is to be treasured as they draw level with Hamilton, St Mirren and Hearts, but Aberdeen will rue a lack of urgency after Cosgrove's opener, which ultimately cost them the chance to open up a five-point gap of Motherwell in fourth.
Man of the match - Matty Kennedy
BBC Scotland's Tyrone Smith at McDiarmid Park
In a first half in which St Johnstone disappointed, Kennedy was their main threat, causing Aberdeen problems down the left flank.
And as they improved after the break, Kennedy continued to be their spark as he hauled them back into the contest.
His goal was a just reward for a tenacious performance, and helped the Perth side secure what could prove to be a precious point as the season plays out.
'We can only blame ourselves' - reaction
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "When you go down to nine men with 16 minutes to go, to come away with a point shows great resilience and great spirit. Zander [Clark] was called into action in that period and did extremely well to keep us in the game and get us a good point, which we deserved for our spirit and willingness to put bodies on the line."
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "We've got no one to blame but ourselves. We had the three points in our pocket and we let two of them go. I'm really disappointed with that from a winning position we should see that out. A fantastic travelling support came down to see a win today and we didn't give them that."