St Johnstone fight back from goalkeeper dismissal to take point at Kilmarnock

St Johnstone battled to a terrific 2-2 draw with ten men as Kilmarnock’s woes continued.

Simo Valakari’s side were at a disadvantage from the 13th minute following the dismissal of goalkeeper Toby Steward for handling outside of his area.

Yet despite going behind immediately after the red card to Cathal McCarthy’s first goal, Saints were never out of the game.

They levelled through Danny Schmidt after 40 minutes, only for Djenairo Daniels to restore the home lead before half-time.

However, a breakaway goal from Joel Cotterill after 65 minutes was enough to claim an unlikely point.

Killie passed up a glut of chances for victory, with substitute keeper Ross Sinclair’s saves and desperate, durable defending from the visitors leaving Killie boss Neil McCann visibly frustrated.

The point was enough to lift them off the bottom of the William Hill Premiership table, but this was a golden chance to do so much more and conceding 28 goals in 12 games makes sorry reading.

The tone of the contest was transformed by Steward’s folly after just ten minutes when the on-loan Portsmouth man gathered a long ball outside his penalty box.

Joe Hugill was the Kilmarnock player on the premises but Steward appeared to have time to take a step back before collecting.

However, VAR signalled referee Matthew MacDermid to check for denial of a goalscoring opportunity and Steward knew his fate.

Back-up keeper Sinclair, on for Taylor Steven, then touched the ball for the first time when picking it out of his net.

From the spot of the foul, Killie worked a set-piece for Greg Kiltie to deliver an inswinger and McCarthy met it six-yards out with a headed finish to score the first goal of his loan spell from Hull City.

Daniels thought he had doubled the lead after 31 minutes from a tight angle before an offside flag foiled him.

Kilmarnock’s defensive problems first came back to bite them, even with the personnel advantage, five minutes before half-time.

Josh Fowler was denied by an excellent fingertip stop by German keeper Nico Mantl but, from the corner, Enes Alic’s delivery was headed into the far corner by an unmarked Schmidt.

Kilmarnock did not dwell on their misfortune and hit straight back. Hugill scampered up the left flank and his cutback was buried by a brilliant backheel flick from Daniels.

Aaron Tshibola spurned the best chance to bury Saints after 63 minutes. Hugill’s brilliant backheel left the DR Congo international staring down Sinclair but he shot weakly and straight at the keeper.

Saints then stunned Killie in the 65th minute to level once more.

The counter-attack came from a Kilmarnock corner breaking down and Alic picked out Cotterill with a great pass. The Welshman sped beyond two defenders to lash in a low finish for 2-2.

Nicky Clescenco came within inches of putting Killie back in front after Tyreece John-Jules nicked the ball from Diabate.

Sinclair then batted away from George Stanger and made a superb reaction stop to deny John-Jules from close range as Kilmarnock failed to find the breakthrough.