St Johnstone survive scare to move six points clear at top of Championship

St Johnstone survived a second-half scare to move six points clear at the top of the William Hill Championship with an action-packed 4-3 win over Queen’s Park.

Saints looked to be cruising to another easy win after a brace from Jamie Gullan and a fine finish from Sam Stanton gave them a 3-0 lead over the visitors inside the first half-hour.

But buoyed by ending a seven-game winless streak with last week’s victory over Raith, the Spiders hit back with two goals inside three minutes either side of the hour mark from Seb Drozd and Josh Fowler.

The shaken home side responded by re-establishing a cushion when Jack Baird scored with a powerful header on 84 minutes, but the visitors kept pressing and got a third on the stroke of full-time through Rocco Friel.

Managerless Raith Rovers plunged deeper into trouble as rock-bottom Airdrie claimed only their second win of the season in style at Stark’s Park.

The hosts, led by interim player-manager Paul Hanlon following Barry Robson’s dismissal last week, fell behind after 38 minutes when Gavin Gallagher lashed home on the rebound.

With confidence sapping from a side who went into the game with just one win in six, Airdrie grabbed a second early in the second half after a swift counter-attack from Euan Henderson, and Chris Mochrie completed the hosts’ misery with a third just past the hour mark.

Airdrie’s win narrowed the deficit to second-bottom Ross County to just one point after the Dingwall side slid to a dismal 3-0 home defeat against Morton.

Nathan Shaw gave the visitors the lead after 20 minutes after wriggling into the box and firing past Trevor Carson with the help of a deflection.

Cammy McPherson scored the second just before the hour when Ross failed to clear a free-kick, and Michael Garrity added the third for Morton after 77 minutes, leaving County with just one win in their last six games.

Kevin Holt’s close-range strike salvaged a late point for Ayr United in a 1-1 draw at home to Arbroath.

Findlay Marshall’s 12th-minute effort had looked set to be enough for the Red Lichties but Holt’s 87th-minute effort meant Ayr avoided defeat at Somerset Park.