St Johnstone 1 Livingston 1: Saints left to rue needless concession of second half penalty as Liam Gordon also ordered off

The needless concession of a second half penalty proved crucial as St Johnstone failed in their bid to pick up a first win of the season.

Forward Dara Costelloe had given Saints the lead in the latter stages of the opening 45 minutes against Livingston - and deservedly so.

But after the break captain Liam Gordon brought down Joel Nouble - who was going away from goal - inside the box and Sean Kelly tucked in the penalty.

Gordon was sent off late on by referee Graham Grainger - after a VAR check - due to a high follow-through tackle on Nouble.

Saints certainly seemed to be getting forward more than previous outings in the opening exchanges, although the final piece to the puzzle was still missing.

Luke Jephcott, making his second league start, had guided well wide of the mark early on but went closer in the 20th minute after neat work on the left flank by Graham Carey.

Carey worked to the byline and cut-back smartly for the former Plymouth striker. His effort, however, was halted by the legs of team-mate Costelloe.

On 36 minutes Costelloe would open the scoring after being slipped through on goal - perhaps slightly fortunately - by Dan Phillips.

Costelloe, on loan from Burnley, wasted little time in rifling a right-footed shot across goalkeeper Shamal George and into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

One minute later and he was almost celebrating a second. This time, though, he could not get the ball out of his feet to get a clean strike away from a promising position.

Saints were looking threatening and Carey was again causing problems as the half-time whistle approached. His cross was inches from being turned into his own net by defender Ayo Obileye. The ball brushed the roof of the net.

Goalkeeper