Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino is taking a “careful” approach with captain Reece James, who started a match for just the second time this season in the Blues’ 2-0 Carabao Cup victory over Blackburn.

James, who has been making his way back to full fitness after sustaining a hamstring issue in August, played 61 minutes of Wednesday’s tie before he was swapped for Malo Gusto.

Benoit Badiashile netted the opener in his first appearance this season, while Raheem Sterling added a second after the break to book the Blues a quarter-final clash with Newcastle.

Pochettino said: “The plan was to check at half-time how (James) was feeling, and after 15 minutes he starts to feel tired and we’re checking from the second half, and we need to be careful how we manage him.

“We decide to make the change because I think it is important now, the progression, and being careful about not going back, sometimes (you) play 90 minutes and maybe take some risks, but we need to avoid this.

“It’s true that we cannot 100 per cent avoid risk, but the plan is to go little by little.”

Badiashile, who had not appeared for Chelsea since May, broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark after Leopold Wahlstedt’s save deflected favourably into his path.

Both sides had penalty shouts go unanswered by referee Tim Robinson before the break, including a potential handball on Conor Gallagher that could have swung momentum in the visitors’ favour, but Sterling’s top-corner strike made it a comfortable second half for the hosts.

Blackburn had their chances – Harry Leonard firing just wide moments after the interval and substitute Arnor Sigurdsson coming close in stoppage time – but never looked close to a comeback in front of the 3,000 fans who had made the trip south.

Jon Dahl Tomasson was convinced his Rovers side should have been awarded a spot-kick, but was pleased by how well his youthful side responded to their top-flight opposition.

The Danish boss, who believes cup football is “extremely important” said: “It was a great challenge, and I think our fans will be proud of this young Rovers team playing against a top team in Europe.

“The millionaires from the Premier League against the young guns from the Championship and do a challenge and an effort like this, I think the boys will learn a lot from this game.

“When you play at this level you need to make a decision quite quick, the intensity is high, the decision-making needs to be right and I thought actually we had some great attacks on the ball as well.

“I’m sure this young group will take a lot from this game.”

David Martindale is adamant he is perfectly content with Livingston’s decision to reject an approach from St Johnstone regarding their managerial vacancy.

The Perth club requested permission to speak to the 49-year-old about the possibility of replacing the sacked Steven MacLean earlier this week but the Lions released a statement on Tuesday explaining that they would not be allowing their boss to talk to Saints.

Martindale, addressing the situation after Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat away to Hearts, said: “The speculation honestly doesn’t bother me. I was in with (chief executive) Dave Black for about three minutes.

“I said ‘what do you want to do? Do you want to keep me at the club or do you want me to go and speak to St Johnstone?’ He said ‘we want to keep you at the club’. I said ‘perfect’ and I went back out to take training.

“There’s not a lot more to it. I’ve said before, the day I leave Livingston, it will be Livingston’s decision, whether that’s through a negative or a positive. I believe the people at the club have my best interests at heart also.

“Livingston changed my life by giving me an opportunity to be a manager in the Premiership and I’ll never ever forget that.”

Martindale’s team suffered a third straight defeat after losing to Hearts following a 79th-minute goal from substitute Kenneth Vargas.

Jambos boss Steven Naismith praised his side for keeping their composure as they halted a run of three games without a win to climb from the bottom six back up to fourth in the table ahead of their Viaplay Cup semi-final against Rangers on Sunday.

“The biggest and most pleasing thing for me is the patience we showed,” he said. “I’ve been here many a time when it gets desperate and you’re firing long balls in and shooting from 40 yards.

“But there was real control. We were unfortunate not to go in a goal or two up at half-time and that can lead to players being desperate or making the wrong choice but we continued to do the same stuff, create chances and we got our rewards in the end.

“I was pretty comfortable. You can hope you will get the goal but I was quite confident the way the game was going, they were getting deeper and more spaces were happening. Our fresher players came on and they produced.”

Naismith felt it was a sign of how well Hearts played that their supporters did not get frustrated even though they had to wait for their winning goal.

“If the fans can see what is happening and they understand what you are doing then this is a great place to play,” he said.

“Teams are going to come here and sit and frustrate and try and counter but we continued to play with good pace and the structure was really good.

“We had nearly nine or 10 players in the final third half at times which is important to move the ball and make chances.”

Rangers crushed Dundee 5-0 in a cinch Premiership match that was delayed due to traffic and then briefly suspended following flares in the away end.

Ryan Jack’s strike had the visitors in front at half-time before four goals after the break from Danilo, Sam Lammers, Cyriel Dessers and James Tavernier extended their unbeaten run under new manager Philippe Clement to three games.

Dundee offered little as an attacking force, with Amadou Bakayoko seeing his second-half effort well saved by Jack Butland.

Kick-off was delayed by 45 minutes after the Rangers team bus was caught up in traffic congestion crossing the Tay Bridge.

Play was then suspended not long after kick-off for a further 18 minutes after flares lit by the visiting supporters set off fire alarms in the stand, with referee Kevin Clancy taking the players off the pitch.

Dundee made three changes following their win away to Livingston. In came Ricki Lamie, Bakayoko and Scott Tiffoney, with Jordan McGhee, Lyall Cameron and Zak Rudden dropping out.

Rangers, in turn, made four changes from the team that defeated Hearts. Out went Nicolas Raskin, Todd Cantwell, Ben Davies and Dessers, replaced by Jack, Leon Balogun, Scott Wright and Danilo.

Rangers started brightly when the game finally got going and Abdallah Sima slid a chance just wide after being played in by Ridvan Yilmaz.

The Light Blues, though, moved in front with their next attack. Balogun sent Danilo running in and when Trevor Carson spilled the Brazilian’s cross, Jack was on hand to sweep in the rebound.

Dundee replied through a Tiffoney cross that Balogun did well to head away from danger.

Carson partially redeemed for his error with a point-blank range save from Danilo, although the offside flag would likely have ruled the goal out in any case.

Malachi Boateng then had a go at the other end but Butland, in the Rangers goal, made a comfortable save.

Danilo ought to have put Rangers two in front early after the restart but, after doing well to create a shooting chance from a long ball, he blazed his effort well off target.

He was far more clinical after 51 minutes when the visitors doubled their lead. Sima teed him up and Danilo finished well beyond Carson into the far corner.

At the other end Butland pulled off a double save to deny first Luke McCowan and then Bakayoko as Dundee looked to narrow the deficit.

Instead it was Rangers who pulled away, scoring three more times.

Lammers claimed the first with a stunning long-range effort before teeing up Dessers who finished well despite Dundee protests for a foul in the build-up.

Tavernier claimed the fifth from the spot after Cameron was adjudged to have fouled Dessers.

St Johnstone caretaker manager Alec Cleland hailed the reaction of his squad as they defeated Kilmarnock 2-1 in the first match since manager Steven MacLean was sacked.

Nicky Clark scored a double in the first 10 minutes and, although Kyle Vassell pulled a goal back and Dara Costelloe was sent off for the hosts, they held on to secure their first league win at the 10th attempt.

Cleland said: “I’m absolutely delighted because we had to dig deep in the end. Let’s not underestimate Kilmarnock. They pegged us back but we got off to a really good start.

“The fans started getting behind us and we started to get confidence to actually go and play so that was good.

“It was an entertaining game. We had to hang on in the end but we got the three points.

“I was asked to come in and take it for a game and that’s happened. I got a great response from the players and the staff as well who have helped massively.

“It was a joint effort from everybody and the reaction we got off the players and the fans was important as well.

“The league position doesn’t lie but there’s lots of points to play for and we have got a good squad in there so hopefully that can give them the confidence.”

The Saints caretaker also singled out striker Clark for praise after his first goals since last November got the Perth side off to a flying start.

He added: “Nicky (Clark) getting the two goals was brilliant and I think you saw the lift that gave the fans as well.

“Over Nicky’s career, with the clubs he’s been at, you’ve seen that he gets you goals. He’s a threat in the box, he’s got good hold up play and the problem with Nicky was just his niggly injuries.

“Now hopefully the strikers can stay fit and we can get Nicky especially a run in the team.”

Killie boss Derek McInnes bemoaned his side’s slow start as they failed to recover from the two early Clark strikes as they slipped down to fifth in the league.

McInnes said: “We played the ultimate price for such a slow start which is so unusual and unlike us. We’ve had a lot of praise recently for our defensive play and our competitiveness.

“We’ve been really aggressive from the outset. We’ve started games really well and we didn’t.

“St Johnstone have been in a poor place of late. They didn’t need any encouragement. You don’t want to give them a leg up.

“We played the majority of the game in their half but St Johnstone showed good spirit. Particularly when they went down to 10 men.

“I don’t think that particularly helped us because it kept them hemmed in and they defended their box well.

“We kept trying to play through them rather than going around them.

“We didn’t work the goalkeeper enough and we paid the ultimate price for a poor start. From 10 minutes into the game, we were the better team but it doesn’t count for anything because St Johnstone got their goals in that period and they did enough to win the game.”

Brendan Rodgers hailed Celtic’s traditional never-say-die spirit following their late 2-1 cinch Premiership win over St Mirren at Parkhead.

Saints attacker Conor McMenamin headed the visitors in front in the seventh minute but returning Hoops midfielder David Turnbull levelled in the 18th minute with a fine strike before hitting the post with a penalty just before the half-hour mark.

The league leaders kept chipping away in the second half and eventually got their reward in the 83rd minute when South Korean attacker Oh Hyeon-gyu took a pass from fellow substitute Odin Thiago Holm and fired high past excellent Buddies goalkeeper Zach Hemming.

The Celtic boss smiled as he said: “It was coming.”

He added: “Listen, it’s one of those ones – you know the game lasts 90 plus minutes so you trust your team.

“They’ve scored late goals already this season. It’s the make-up of this club to keep going and persevere.

“I was really just pleased with the quality of the winning goal. We saw that at Motherwell when we got that winner (Matt O’Riley) late on.

“With 80-odd minutes on the clock here, you can start to panic but we worked the ball really well.

“The goal was terrific. Of course you can never be sure but I trust the team that they will keep going until the end and when you do that opportunities will come.

“It’s part of the value of this team – that ability to keep going. When you bring in players you are always looking for players who have that resilience in their make-up.

“It’s part of what you do when you recruit a player. When you play for a club like this one, there’s no choice – you keep fighting, you keep running and allow your quality to come through and that’s exactly what happened.

“We had a penalty and Kyogo (Furuhashi) had a chance as well. So we could have been more comfortable in the scoreline.

“At 2-1, you just want to grind it out and get the result.”

It was Oh’s first goal of the season and Rodgers was pleased for the South Korean.

Rodgers said: “It was a great finish. Nice little very combination with Kyogo and Odin can shoot if he’s selfish. But he plays a lovely pass in and the big guy takes his touch and it’s a wonderful finish.

“I’m really pleased for him. For the guys who aren’t playing so much, you always have to recognise and acknowledge their efforts which I did with them.

“He looks after his body, his diet, everything is superb. He’s so professional, he looks at his training and he knows when asked upon he can come in and make an impact. And what an impact.”

St Mirren remain in third place and boss Stephen Robinson also praised his side as he acknowledged the quality of Celtic’s goals.

He said: “We got beat by a fantastic goal. Sometime you look for fault but it was a fantastic goal and so was the first one.

“Defensively we were excellent, Zach Hemming made three fantastic saves.

“I have nothing but credit and praise for the players.

“To be disappointed shows we have come a long way but we are a good side and I have a lot of confidence in these players.

“We got beat by quality but in terms of where we want to go it was a big statement in terms of performance.”

Jurgen Klopp hailed the desire of his players after Liverpool booked a Carabao Cup quarter-final spot by battling through Storm Ciaran to beat Bournemouth 2-1.

Substitute Darwin Nunez settled a challenging fourth-round tie staged in driving rain and swirling winds with a stunning 70th-minute winner.

Cody Gakpo gave the much-changed Reds a half-time lead at Vitality Stadium before the Cherries threatened an upset thanks to Justin Kluivert’s first goal in English football.

“It’s a top, top, top cup game,” said Reds boss Klopp, who made eight changes from Sunday’s 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest.

“It’s all about winning, it’s all about getting through.

“The good thing today is I don’t have to speak about the circumstances because everybody saw it and felt it.

“It was really difficult, for both teams obviously.

“First half we could have scored more goals, we didn’t, and second half we realised it would have been a good idea to score more goals because the wind changed the game again in the second half.

“We scored our second goal, a wonderful goal, and then we fought extremely hard, we had good moments.

“But it’s all about attitude in these moments.

“Both teams obviously wanted it. Everybody can expect it from the home team but I saw my team as well how hard we really wanted it and I’m really happy about that.

“It was a top cup game in strange, strange circumstances.”

In-form Uruguay forward Nunez unleashed a thunderous finish into the top right corner to claim his third goal in as many games just 10 minutes after coming off the bench.

Underdogs Bournemouth looked well placed to push for a winner at that stage following Kluivert’s close-range header from an Alex Scott corner, which cancelled out Gakpo’s 31st-minute finish at the second attempt.

“It was a difficult game, Bournemouth did really well, they had their moments,” said Klopp.

“But in life, in football from time to time you need luck and tonight for sure in one or two moments Bournemouth could have finished the situations off a little bit better.

“Then Darwin shows his class and pretty much puts the game to bed for us with an unbelievable goal. We had much better chances in the whole game – five, six, seven – but that was the goal we needed, he did it.

“Now we drive home, long trip – we would have had to do that anyway – but going into the next round feels much better.”

Bournemouth picked up their first top-flight victory under head coach Andoni Iraola by beating Burnley 2-1 on Saturday.

But the spirited Cherries were unable to build on that landmark win with a place in the last eight.

“We were really close,” said Iraola. “One moment in the second half, the game was going our side.

“We were struggling first half. It was difficult with the wind. Both teams were struggling with the build up. It looked as if we could score a second goal and win the game but in the end they made the difference with Darwin’s strike.

“We had a big chance to be in the last eight with some big teams out but we knew it would not be easy.

“They finished the game with most of their starting 11 and had to push really hard to beat us.”

Manchester United’s woes continued as their defence of the Carabao Cup ended with a 3-0 loss to Newcastle at Old Trafford.

The fourth-round rematch between last season’s finalists saw Newcastle strike twice in the first half through Miguel Almiron and Lewis Hall.

Joe Willock then added a third just past the hour mark as Erik ten Hag’s side slumped to an eighth defeat in all competitions this season, and second 3-0 reverse at home in four days following Sunday’s loss to Manchester City.

Arsenal were also eliminated, going down 3-1 at West Ham as Declan Rice returned to the London Stadium.

An early Ben White own-goal put the Hammers in front and finishes from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen followed after the break before Martin Odegaard scored a consolation goal for the Gunners in stoppage time.

Liverpool advanced to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win at Bournemouth sealed by substitute Darwin Nunez’s stunning strike.

The Uruguayan fired in what proved the winner in the 70th minute, six minutes after Justin Kluivert’s first Bournemouth goal had cancelled out Cody Gakpo’s first-half opener.

Chelsea beat Blackburn 2-0 at Stamford Bridge courtesy of goals in either half from Benoit Badiashile and Raheem Sterling.

Everton boss Sean Dyche saw his side beat his old club Burnley 3-0 at Goodison Park, with ex-Claret James Tarkowski, Amadou Onana and Ashley Young getting on the scoresheet.

Fulham won 3-1 at Championship high-fliers Ipswich. Harry Wilson, Muniz and Tom Cairney put the Cottagers three goals up before Elkan Baggott reduced the deficit late on.

Mikel Arteta took the blame for Arsenal’s painful 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat at West Ham.

Arteta made six changes to his line-up for the fourth-round clash, starting with Declan Rice on the bench on his Hammers homecoming.

Rice, who lifted the Europa Conference League trophy as West Ham captain last season, was back at his old club for the first time since his £105million switch to the Gunners.

But he will not be getting his hands on the Carabao Cup this season after strikes from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen, following an early own goal by Ben White, sent the north Londoners crashing out.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Gunners boss Arteta. “I’m responsible for that, we’re out of the cup, we wanted to play a very different game and compete.

“The game took a direction because of the first goal but we have to see much more from the team and earn the right to win.

“I’m disappointed with myself. We wanted to play in a different way and we weren’t able to do that. Every time we lose the pain is there.

“We have to use this pain and this defeat to prepare the best way for Newcastle on Saturday.”

West Ham took the lead after 15 minutes when Bowen’s corner was inadvertently headed past Aaron Ramsdale by White at the near post.

The second goal arrived in the 50th minute when Ghana winger Kudus collected a long ball into the box from Nayef Aguerd, skipped past Oleksandr Zinchenko and rifled a low shot through the legs of Gabriel and into the net.

Rice was the only goalscorer the last time West Ham beat Arsenal, in the Premier League in 2019.

“You should have signed for a big club” was the mischievous chant aimed at the 24-year-old when he came out to warm up.

Much of the build-up to the match centred around the reception the England midfielder would receive and when he was sent on in the 56th minute the boos were quickly drowned out by a standing ovation from most of the home fans.

But, before Rice had a chance to get into the game, West Ham had a third after Bowen collected White’s headed clearance and lashed it past Ramsdale via a deflection off Jakub Kiwior.

Martin Odegaard scored a consolation goal with the last kick but it was West Ham’s night as they marched into the quarter-finals.

“It was a really good solid team performance. The forward players did a really good job and for long periods we were good defensively. For most of it we coped well,” said boss David Moyes.

“Maybe we are becoming quite a good cup team. I want to be a really good league team if I can be but if I can’t quite do that then we have to do well in the cups if we can.

“We have only won against Arsenal, we don’t get trophies for that.”

Miguel Almiron, Lewis Hall and Joe Willock fired Newcastle to a famous first Old Trafford victory in a decade as Carabao Cup holders Manchester United suffered a second 3-0 home humiliation in four days.

Wednesday’s fourth-round clash was a repeat of the final eight months ago at Wembley, where Erik ten Hag crowned a promising first season in the hotseat by ending the club’s six-year wait for silverware.

But things have gone awry since then and pressure will intensify on the Dutchman and his team after Newcastle inflicted the Red Devils’ eighth defeat in 15 matches to progress to the quarter-finals.

The fallout to this tie is sure to be dominated by Ten Hag’s United after seeing Sunday’s derby humbling against Manchester City compounded, but this was Newcastle’s night.

The Magpies had only won one of their previous 41 away matches against the Red Devils in all competitions, and few will forget their first Old Trafford triumph since December 2013.

Jack Marriott salvaged Fleetwood a dramatic late point in a six-goal Lancashire derby thriller at Highbury.

The Cod Army looked set to secure bragging rights against their neighbours for the first time in five years after a quick-fire first-half burst.

Blackpool had a great early chance when Jordan Rhodes’ strike rattled the crossbar after just six minutes.

Promise Omochere opened the scoring for the hosts after 13 minutes after he was left in plenty of space to pick his spot.

And Lee Johnson’s side doubled their lead five minutes later as the Seasiders made a mess of clearing a corner, with Marriott poking home the rebound.

Blackpool goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw kept the deficit at just the two when he kept out Shaun Rooney with his feet.

Sonny Carey turned the game on its head with a three-minute brace early in the second half.

The 22-year-old, who opened his league account for the season last time out, curled home a nice strike in the 48th minute before quickly firing in a second effort from the edge of the box.

Shayne Lavery completed the turnaround in the 65th minute after being played through by Rhodes.

But Marriott’s stunning 90th-minute strike secured a precious point for the strugglers.

Jamie McGrath hit a double as a 4-2 victory at Motherwell gave Aberdeen a much-needed morale boost ahead of the Viaplay Cup semi-finals.

McGrath scored in each half with Nicky Devlin and substitute Luis Lopes also on target as the Dons claimed their first win in five matches to send them to Hampden on a high when they face Hibernian on Saturday.

Motherwell conceded some sloppy goals and never troubled Aberdeen keeper Kelle Roos until substitute Theo Bair netted his first goal at Fir Park in the 79th minute.

Mika Biereth scored his third goal in three cinch Premiership appearances off the bench in stoppage time but the Steelmen have now taken just one point from six games.

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson had taken responsibility for Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock, admitting he should have made more than one change to his starting line-up. He made two at Fir Park as Dante Polvara and Leighton Clarkson came in.

Motherwell had Lennon Miller back from suspension while Conor Wilkinson made his first start since August.

Both sides had some decent spells of possession without threatening, until some hesitant defending gifted the visitors the lead in the 26th minute.

Dan Casey failed to get a decent connection on his header following Devlin’s cross and Paul McGinn was slow to react as McGrath got in behind to nod home at the far post.

The goal seemed to have a major and contrasting impact on each team. Aberdeen looked increasingly confident on the ball while Motherwell were struggling to string two passes together and the crowd started to get on their backs.

A slack pass from McGinn set up Polvara to shoot straight at Liam Kelly before the away team doubled their lead in the 44th minute.

McGrath’s pass put Bojan Miovski through and, although McGinn made a last-ditch tackle, Devlin was by far the quickest to follow up and slotted home.

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell made two half-time changes, bringing on Biereth and Calum Butcher, who was making his first appearance since suffering a foot injury in May.

The start of the second half was delayed by about seven minutes by a technical issue with the VAR equipment.

The home fans soon lost their patience with referee Colin Steven as he booked four of their players in the space of eight minutes and waved away several appeals for Motherwell free-kicks – Biereth’s yellow card came for a show of dissent.

McGrath had a header saved before adding to his tally in the 68th minute after another goal-saving challenge fell for the Dons.

Casey this time slid in to nick the ball off Miovski’s feet and McGrath emerged with it as Kelly hesitated to pick up, before the Irishman found the net. The goalkeeper was booked for dissent as he claimed for an infringement.

Kelly was well beaten six minutes later when he came for Ryan Duncan’s corner as Lopes headed into the empty net.

Bair soon curled the ball home from 22 yards with Roos slow to get down at his near post.

The Canadian missed a decent chance from Biereth’s driven cross before the Dane slotted home following a cross.

A late strike by substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu gave Celtic a hard-fought 2-1 cinch Premiership win over St Mirren at Parkhead.

Saints attacker Conor McMenamin headed the well-organised visitors into a shock lead in the seventh minute but the Hoops responded as expected.

Returning midfielder David Turnbull levelled in the 18th minute with a terrific strike before hitting the post with a penalty just before the half-hour mark.

Brendan Rodgers’ men kept working away in the second half and eventually got their reward in the 83rd minute when South Korean attacker Oh, on for Turnbull, fired high past excellent Buddies goalkeeper Zach Hemming for his first goal of the season.

Rodgers’ side had dropped points at the weekend with a goalless draw at Hibernian but the main talking point ahead of the game was the Green Brigade’s ban from Celtic Park for “increasingly serious escalation in unacceptable behaviours”.

The move came after incidents including the fan group’s co-ordination of a display showing solidarity with the people of Palestine at last week’s Champions League game against Atletico Madrid and their absence impacted on the atmosphere.

Rodgers, however, had to get on with winning a game of football and with centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers rested he brought in Nat Phillips, with Turnbull and winger James Forrest reinstated as Paulo Bernardo and Daizen Maeda dropped to the bench.

The visitors, with Ryan Strain back from suspension and Caolan Boyd-Munce and Toyosi Olusanya back in the side, stunned the home side with the early opener.

Greg Kiltie’s curling cross from wide on the left was met by Northern Ireland attacker McMenamin and he gave keeper Joe Hart no chance with his header from close range.

The goal concentrated Celtic minds while the fans began grumbling at St Mirren taking the lead.

But they had cause to cheer when Turnbull picked up a Matt O’Riley pass 20 yards from goal and curled a shot high past Buddies keeper Hemming.

There was a handball check by VAR when Turnbull’s shot came off the sliding Buddies midfielder Alex Gogic and when referee John Beaton checked his pitchside monitor he inevitably pointed to the spot.

Turnbull’s spot-kick struck the post, Luis Palma’s effort from the rebound was well-saved by Hemming and then Matt O’Riley headed past the post and Saints breathed again.

Celtic increased the pressure just before the break with Hemming preventing Gogic inadvertently slicing a clearance into his own net before making a good save from Palma’s low drive.

An intricate move early in the second half ended with Hemming making a fine save from Forrest’s drive from 10 yards before the winger and Palma made way for Maeda and South Korean attacker Yang Hyun-jun.

Celtic kept knocking at the door and seven minutes from the end Oh took a pass from fellow substitute Odin Thiago Holm inside the box and drove high into the net.

The hosts should have scored again in added time when Kyogo Furuhashi was clean through, only to be foiled by Hemming.

Managerless St Johnstone finally ended their wait for a first league win of the season as they secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock at McDiarmid Park.

In their first match since manager Steven MacLean lost his job, the Saints got off to a dream start with Nicky Clark grabbing a double in the first 10 minutes.

Kilmarnock grew into the game, though, and Kyle Vassell’s volley got them back into the game just after half-time.

The Perth side had to see out the last 15 minutes with 10 men after Dara Costelloe was red-carded for a late tackle on Matty Kennedy but they held on to move within three points of 11th-placed Livingston.

St Johnstone caretaker boss Alec Cleland had made three changes from the side who were hammered by St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday, with Ryan McGowan, Graham Carey and Chris Kane restored to the starting line-up. Meanwhile, Kilmarnock were unchanged from their impressive win over Aberdeen on Sunday.

The Saints had not won in their first nine matches in the cinch Premiership but they flew out of the traps, making the breakthrough after just 42 seconds.

Chris Kane’s initial shot from the edge of the box was saved by Will Dennis but Clark followed up to tap in and give the hosts the lead. The linesman initially chalked the strike off for offside before the decision was reversed following a VAR review.

It soon got even better for the Saints just six minutes later with Clark again on target. It was the simplest of goals, as Carey whipped in an in-swinging free-kick from the left wing that was well met by the head of striker Clark.

Kilmarnock were shell-shocked but they attempted to press forward and Kennedy fired their first effort of note narrowly wide from just outside the box in the 21st minute.

It was St Johnstone who remained on top however and they were inches away from adding a third in the 29th minute through an unlikely source. Captain Liam Gordon advanced forward and unleashed a long-range shot that skimmed the crossbar via a deflection.

The Saints were rampant and Kane was next to try his luck, juggling the ball from the resulting corner before acrobatically volleying onto the roof of the net.

The away side’s next chance didn’t come until the 40th minute as Vassell saw his volley from 10 yards well blocked and Stuart Findlay also came close with a header as a flurry of Kilmarnock corners ended the first half.

Killie had finished the half well and they carried this momentum into the second period, grabbing a lifeline on 47 minutes.

Kennedy delivered a precise cross from the left and Vassell volleyed home from around the penalty spot. Saints keeper Dimitar Mitov got a hand to it but he could only push the ball onto the post and into the net.

After an action-packed first half, the second period was a tighter affair but it was Killie sensing the chance at an equaliser as the game wore on.

Danny Armstrong’s deliveries were causing problems and Joe Wright should have done better with a free header that he steered wide from six yards out in the 71st minute.

St Johnstone’s attempts to see out the game then suffered a blow with 15 minutes remaining as Costelloe was sent off for a reckless late challenge on Kennedy as the winger advanced down the touchline.

Referee Calum Scott initially gave a yellow card before awarding a red after being sent to the screen by VAR Willie Collum.

It looked set up for a grandstand finish but, despite Kilmarnock throwing in a number of crosses, St Johnstone saw out the remainder of the game in relative comfort as they secured a much-needed first league win.