St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari endured a difficult return to Fir Park as Motherwell inflicted a third straight Scottish Premiership defeat on his side.

Valakari returned to the club he spent four years with as a player but his former club showed St Johnstone no mercy as they opened up a 2-0 lead by half time after a brilliant counter-attacking display.

Tawanda Maswanhise headed home from Marvin Kaleta's cross to open the scoring before Tom Sparrow's arrowed low strike put Motherwell in firm control.

However, St Johnstone were given a lifeline just before the hour mark when the video assistant referee spotted a handball by Andy Halliday as he blocked Graham Carey's shot.

Captain Nicky Clark took responsibility and stroked in a convincing penalty to get his side back into the game.

It descended into a frantic final half hour but neither side showed enough in the final third, before St Johnstone thought they had grabbed a 91st-minute equaliser.

Carey's corner was steered into the net by Jack Sanders, but VAR got involved for the second time after spying the defender had used his arm to score.

Motherwell then held on to remain in fifth place, level on 19 points with Dundee United and Rangers above them.

St Johnstone are down in 10th place after losing their third league game in a row.

It was a masterful first-half performance from Motherwell which won this game. Manager Stuart Kettlewell and his players knew Valakari's St Johnstone are more expansive than they have been in years, but also more vulnerable.

Time and again they broke at speed when Saints lost the ball, getting down the sides of centre-backs Sanders and Kyle Cameron.

Right-back Kaleta was at the heart of that and was excellent at driving down the flank, putting in a perfect cross to create the opening goal.

Sparrow's arrowed finish across the goalkeeper was another example of their neat and ruthless attacking.

Kettlewell continues to get the most out of this group as they make a strong case to finish in the top six this season.

They are now seven points clear of seventh place, already a significant gap.

Valakari has brought energy and a new intent to a St Johnstone side which has struggled to stay in the top flight in recent seasons, chiefly because of their lack of creativity and goalscoring threat.

They started brightly at Fir Park and passed with confidence and precision, but the crucial thing is they still lack the final punch needed in the box.

On top of that, there is an openness to their style which means they are leaking too many goals, the most of any side in the top flight.

Motherwell knew how to exploit that, and other teams sense it too. They did show more grit in the second half after Valakari brought on defender Lewis Neilson and left-back Andre Raymond at half-time for midfielders Matt Smith and Jason Holt.

However, the Finnish manager is struggling to find the right balance between defence and attack.

The stats by full-time were even, but it was Motherwell who were more effective in both boxes.

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell: "I thought we started slowly but as soon as we started turning the ball over we knew there would be a lot of open space and areas we could cause St Johnstone problems.

"That proved to be the case. We converted two really good chances."

St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari: "First half was not close to where we need to be. We cannot be this soft.

"To go two goals down away at Motherwell, a strong defensive side who can hit you in the transitions, we put ourselves in a very difficult situation."