St Johnstone 2 St Mirren 0

St Johnstone cruised to a 2-0 win over St Mirren at McDiarmid Park on Saturday, a result which leaves the visitors four points adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership. A goal in each half from Brian Graham and Steven Anderson, both of which were set up by David Wotherspoon, proved decisive to move Tommy Wright's side up to fifth in the table. St Mirren came into the game as the league's lowest goalscorers and struggled to make an impact going forward, with Viktor Genev forcing a good save from Alan Mannus in one of their few attempts at goal. It was the home side who created all of the early chances and Graham, who had come into the team in place of Danny Swanson, had two opportunities in the first five minutes. One opening saw the on-loan frontman impressively denied by Jason Naismith just as he prepared to pull the trigger, before he headed wide from Wotherspoon's free-kick moments later. Michael O'Halloran cut inside and shot wide before a free-flowing move involving Wotherspoon and Dave Mackay set up Graham at the far post, but he could only fire straight at goalkeeper Mark Ridgers with the angle closing. Graham was looking like the most likely source of a goal and he was inches away from scoring midway through the first half. A neat exchange with O'Halloran gave the striker a chance to spin inside and fire in a right-footed effort which clipped the outside of the post. Graham headed another effort wide from a threatening Wotherspoon cross before he finally made the breakthrough in the 33rd minute. Wotherspoon was again the creative source, chipping in a delivery from the right. Graham was inexplicably allowed to bring the ball down inside the six-yard box and comfortably slide his finish past Ridgers. St Mirren barely mustered a meaningful attempt on goal in the first half but they almost made a perfect start to the second period. Stephen Mallan broke from midfield and slipped through a pass to James Dayton, who steadied himself before dragging his finish wide of the far post. At the other end, St Johnstone were inches off-target with two headed efforts. The first chance saw Graham's diving attempt fall just past the post under pressure from the away defence before Anderson's header drifted just off-target from Wotherspoon's free-kick. Anderson made no mistake on 62 minutes, though, charging in unchallenged to head Wotherspoon's corner high into the net to double the hosts' advantage. St Mirren attempted to respond when substitute Yoann Arquin's flick-on found Genev, whose snapshot was impressively repelled by Mannus. The visitors were committing men forward in an attempt to get back into the game and were almost picked off on the break when Graham found Wotherspoon, but the midfielder rushed his finish having made a long supporting run. Sean Kelly forced Mannus to parry a late long-range attempt but St Mirren had struggled to create clear-cut chances and St Johnstone comfortably held on.