Roland Idowu scored a last-gasp penalty winner in St Mirren’s topsy-turvy 3-2 Premiership victory over St Johnstone as they moved back into the top six.
Josh Rae saved Mark O’Hara’s spot-kick but VAR alerted referee Euan Anderson that he had come off his line early and – during a retake – Idowu, on loan from Shrewsbury, sent Rae the wrong way to secure maximum points.
The Paisley team had won just once and scored two goals in 10 visits to McDiarmid Park since promotion in 2018.
This game looked like being another poor result in Perth as Makenzie Kirk and Benji Kimpioka netted comeback goals for the hosts.
Killian Phillips had given St Mirren the lead in 10 minutes but they lost momentum in the second period.
However, 17-year-old Evan Mooney came off the bench to score in only his second substitute appearance to tee up the dramatic ending.
How St Mirren took all three points
St Mirren’s Killian Phillips and Roland Idowu (right) celebrate at full time
Home boss Simo Valakari, who was without suspended Sven Sprangler, brought in Adama Sidibeh as his only change as he reshuffled his system to use a three-man attack.
Despite all that firepower, they failed to threaten the visiting defence, with Alex Iacovitti featuring for the first time since August.
Mikael Mandron replaced Toyosi Olusanya in attack as St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson sought to tackle a lack of creativity and a clinical touch in the final third in recent weeks.
Both issues were swiftly resolved. Mandron created space to collect and turn 22 yards out and slotted a perfect pass through to match the run of Phillips.
St Johnstone hands went up to claim offside but the Irishman timed it just right and tucked a low finish past Rae.
Valakari made a straight swap at half-time with David Keltjens replacing Lewis Neilson at right-back.
The Israel international took just seven minutes to make an impact, with a pass to release Nicky Clark.
The St Johnstone captain connected with a darting diagonal run from Kirk, who tucked a terrific low finish beyond the reach of Ellery Balcombe for his third goal in five games.
Luke Kenny, 21, made his first Premiership appearance for the Buddies after Richard Taylor was carried off on a stretcher.
Phillips skied a great chance for St Mirren and there was wasteful work at the opposite end from Sidibeh and Kimpioka.
However, Swede Kimpioka made amends by putting the Perth Saints in front. Drey Wright’s determination kept St Johnstone in attack mode and he played Kimpioka through on the left.
A superb first touch took him beyond defenders and he fired into the roof of the net.
The home side’s defensive failings returned, however, and they could not hold on.
Goalkeeper Rae offered an unconvincing punch to a routine ball into the box and Mooney swept home a leveller.
Deep in stoppage time, VAR awarded a penalty for handball by Jason Holt and Idowu succeeded where O’Hara failed, nine minutes after the initial 90.
What the managers said…
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson fears a lengthy lay-off for Mark O’Hara after he was injured as he missed a stoppage-time penalty: “Unfortunately, Mark has pulled his thigh taking the first penalty and it looks serious.
“He will need a scan and we think it could be a bad one and a recurrence of the problem he had last season. That would be a big blow for us and he is gutted at the moment. He’s very down.
“Credit to him for wanting to stand up and take another penalty but I told Roland to take the second one. It’s always a pressure situation and that was my call that Mark didn’t take it again. Roland showed real composure to win it.
“I couldn’t watch the penalty, though. I just watched the fans. I watched the first one and I thought ‘I must be a jinx’, so I only saw it on a replay.”
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari: “I think the boys showed how good they are in the second half and scored two great goals.
“Then emotions – positive emotions – took over us. We were thinking: ‘We’re going to score even more goals’.
“We lost it a little bit in our heads, instead of having calmness and passing the ball around.
“We were in total control of the match. We could have kept the ball to see the game out. That’s the biggest disappointment for me. Plus, it’s a reality check.
“We’re not there as a team yet that can do the right things in the moments we need them to do that. We lost the game at 2-1. We need to learn quickly to see those moments out.”
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