St Johnstone secured their top six place with a win in this Tayside derby, but Dundee had reason to leave McDiarmid Park happy as well.
Dundee United’s victory over Hamilton Accies means only two wins for Kilmarnock and a lot of goals scored will deny the Dark Blues their place in the top half of the table after the split.
And that’s even if Dundee lose their next match against Celtic.
Brian Graham won this one for Saints, with a fine finish midway through the first half his third goal in four games.
A combination of poor passing, poor control and a poor pitch made for the untidiest of starts to this match.
It wasn’t until 23 minutes that either keeper had a shot to deal with. Alan Mannus was the man forced into a full-stretch save, and even then it was from one of his own players.
Simon Lappin made an interception at the edge of the box and it turned out to be a goal-bound shot.
From nearly going a goal down, Saints took the lead three minutes later.
Simon Ferry lost possession in midfield, from where Michael O’Halloran fed the ball to Graham down the hosts’ left.
It was a superb finish from the on-loan Dundee United man. He shifted the ball on to his right foot and curled a side-foot shot inside the far post, giving Scott Bain no chance.
In the first half Dundee were a shadow of the derby-winning team of midweek and Willie Dyer nearly gifted Saints a second when he passed the ball across his own box straight to Steven MacLean. To Dyer’s relief, the Perth frontman failed to control it.
Graham was off target with a back post header as Saints continued to press for a second, but it was actually Dundee who came even closer to scoring on the stroke of half-time.
Frazer Wright’s attempted clearance found its way back into the box and David Clarkson struck the post, then shot over from the rebound.
Ten minutes after the re-start Mannus seemed to be troubled by the sun when Paul McGinn sent over a high cross from the right. In the end the Northern Irishman did enough to claw it away from under his bar.
Dundee were much improved in the second half and Stephen McGinn saw a downward header from the penalty spot cleared away.
At the other end MacLean had an over-head kick cleared off the line, and Graham tested Bain with a shot from just inside the box.
Craig Wighton and Paul Heffernan were sent on, and the former showed why several scouts from English clubs are checking him out, when he glided into the box before stabbing his shot wide.