Craig Levein denied a St Johnstone flyer as two-goal lead is wiped out by Motherwell for share of the points

Craig Levein was denied a St Johnstone flyer, with victory over Motherwell slipping through his team’s fingers.

The new Perth boss has been away from the dugout for four years but some things haven’t changed in that time – the old ‘game of two halves’ being one of them.

Saints went into the break two goals ahead, with Levein set to give more air to the Premiership bounce started by his caretaker predecessor, Alex Cleland, against Kilmarnock.

First Nicky Clark and then Andy Considine had scored from corners.

At that point the McDiarmid Park side were off the bottom of the table.

But a quick-fire Motherwell double midway through the second half flipped this game.

And, with the teams exchanging late blows in a thrilling finale, Saints had to settle for a point.

One change

Dara Costelloe’s suspension denied Levein the opportunity of picking the same team that won last midweek.

He went for the option of minimum tactical and personnel disruption though, putting Dan Phillips into the starting XI at right wing-back.

Saints were two goals up after eight minutes against Kilmarnock.

There was no super-fast start this time, though.

And they came perilously close to falling behind early in the contest.

A communication breakdown between Considine and Dimitar Mitov when a long ball was played over the top allowed Conor Wilkinson to dart between them, lob the goalkeeper and find his unguarded net.

VAR official, Alan Muir, didn’t take long to inform his on-pitch colleague, Euan Anderson, that Wilkinson had controlled the ball with his arm, however.

It was a reprieve Saints took full advantage of when they took the lead.

A Graham Carey shot was deflected for a corner.

Matt Smith dropped an in-swinger on to Clark’s header at the near post and, as with his first of the season a week ago, the former Dundee United man gave the keeper no chance.

And, as was also the case a week ago, Saints were able to quickly turn one goal into two.

The first was scored in the 17th minute and the second in the 27th.

Again, it came from a corner – this time the far side.

Motherwell had a couple of chances to clear Carey’s set-piece delivery but failed to do so and Considine stabbed the ball home from just inside the six-yard box.

There was a Motherwell pyro fog at the start of the first half and a storm for Saints to weather at the end of it.

Luke Robinson stopped a Callum Slattery diving header on the line just after the half-hour mark, with Mitov beaten and the same ‘Well player squandered a good free-kick position with a wild shot on the stroke of half-time.

Bair on for the second half

The visitors, with ex-Saint Theo Bair on as a substitute, started the second half brightly as well.

Considine had to be alert to be first to a dangerous Blair Spittal cross that flashed across the six-yard box.

There was a similar scare on 66 minutes with a ball driven into the danger area from the other side.

Ryan McGowan was the man mopping up on this occasion.

Just as it looked like Motherwell might be running out of ideas, they pulled a goal back on 68 minutes.

Spittal floated a ball into the box and Shane Blaney gave Mitov no chance with his header.

Dan Casey came within inches of making it 2-2 but Motherwell didn’t have long to wait for their equaliser – Mika Biereth dashing across his marker to get a decisive touch to Georgie Gent’s superb cross.

Smith and Spittal came close for their respective teams with late long-range shots – and there was also a Stevie May glancing header just over – but an incident-packed match ended in a share of the points.

St Johnstone – Mitov 6, Considine 7, McGowan 7, Gordon 7, Kane 8 (May 89), Clark 7.5 (Kucheriavyi 76), Carey 6.5 (MacPherson 90), Robinson 7.5, Smith 7.5, Sprangler 6.5, Phillips 6. Subs not used – Richards, Brown, Gallacher, Jephcott, Olufunwa, Booth.