St Johnstone look locked into a battle for 11th in the Premiership at best after Ross County pulled seven points clear with their victory in Dingwall.
The only good news of the day for Perth fans came from Dens Park, where Mark McGhee’s Dundee were being thrashed by Livingston.
That means Saints are still two points above the bottom but they really needed to draw or win in the Highlands to retain any realistic hope of catching the Staggies.
They were in a good position to do so when Callum Hendry opened the scoring – his fourth goal in six games.
Regan Charles-Cook and Joseph Hungbo then did their thing, though, ably assisted by some poor Saints defending and another second half slump.
It was a game of very few chances in the first period, with both sides taking their best one.
Saints were first to find the net on 24 minutes.
Their opener against Hearts last weekend was a superbly crafted goal and this was another.
Melker Hallberg fed the ball out wide to Tom Sang on the right.
The on-loan Cardiff City wing-back’s left foot cross to the back post picked out Hendry who had a lot of work still to do to get a header into the top corner.
It had been a very tight contest up until that point and Saints were comfortable for a spell thereafter, which made it all the more frustrating that they conceded an equaliser on 36 minutes.
Too much space
The shooting ability of Charles-Cook is no secret and he was afforded too much space just outside the box to curl a low right foot effort past Elliott Parish.
The Perth side didn’t start the second half well and they were a goal behind eight minutes into it.
The defenders didn’t deal with a long throw and Charles-Cook was in the right place beyond the back post (and unmarked) to hook his shot over Parish.
It was effectively game over on 67 minutes when County’s other star man, Hungbo, got in on the act with a sweetly struck shot after the Saints defence hadn’t cleared their box effectively.
