St Johnstone 2, Motherwell 1: Mikulic breaks Motherwell hearts

Motherwell lost to Premiership basement side St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, seven days after being knocked out of the Scottish Cup by the same opponents, at the same venue.

Andy Halliday's early penalty looked like earning Motherwell all three points, until two corners cost them dearly as Taylor Steven and Bozo Mikulic netted.

Motherwell fans urged changes in the side after last week's 1-0 Scottish Cup defeat here in Perth, six were made (more on that later) and it seemed to work, with the visitors immediately more attacking.

That resulted in an early penalty which was clinically dispatched by Halliday, and they had other chances to add to that.

St Johnstone had plenty of possession, but didn't do a lot with it. All too often, a pass went astray, or there was nobody in the middle for a cross, so they failed to seriously test Brentford loan keeper Ellery Balcombe on his debut.

St Johnstone threw on Adama Sidibeh for Kucheriavyi at half-time and that breathed new life into the hosts. He should have drawn them level shortly after his introduction, too, but was blocked by some good defending.

Taylor and Mikulic made the most of dithering defending, though, to keep the three points in Perth.

St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari made one change from the Scottish Cup win over Motherwell here seven days ago, with Max Kucheriavyi in for Jack Sanders.

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell made six changes. Goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe made his debut, while Stephen O'Donnell, Liam Gordon, Tom Sparrow, Harry Paton and Tony Watt came in for Archie Mair (GK), Kofi Balmer, Dan Casey, Ewan Wilson, Kai Andrews and Jack Vale, who was suspended.

New signings Luke Armstrong and defender Dom Thompson were on the bench.

Motherwell took the lead from