Kilmarnock moved into fourth place in the cinch Premiership by staving off a St Johnstone comeback to win 2-1 at at rain-swept Rugby Park.
The home side’s storming start saw 18-year-old midfielder David Watson thunder in a long-distance drive in the sixth minute before veteran striker Marley Watkins doubled the lead in the 17th minute and more goals should have separated the sides at half-time.
Just after the hour mark, with no let up in the foul weather, Saints substitute Nicky Clark reduced the deficit from close range and a game that looked in Killie’s control had to be managed until the end against the rejuvenated Perth side.
Derek McInnes’s side, now unbeaten in four games, are one point ahead of St Mirren whom they play in Paisley on Wednesday, but it could have been a more comfortable afternoon for them.
St Johnstone boss Craig Levein had predicted a “scrap” but his side could have been counted out of the game before half-time.
Amid swirling wind and rain in Ayrshire the unchanged home side blew their opponents away in the early stages.
In the fifth minute Killie midfielder Brad Lyons did well to get to a terrific cross from left-back Corrie Ndaba but he headed over the bar from 12 yards.
However, the home side soon took the lead when Watson, who had scored the winner at Aberdeen earlier in the month, took a Danny Armstrong pass 25 yards out and rifled his shot past diving Saints goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov and in off the post.
Levein had brought back Ryan McGowan, Tony Gallacher, Graham Carey and Chris Kane while fit-again Clark started on the bench, but they were strangely subdued.
Watkins’ goal came when he picked up the ball on the right, played in the ever-dangerous Armstrong and when the 33-year-old took the return pass inside the box, he poked it low past Mitov from 12 yards.
Killie captain Kyle Vassell then turned a tantalising cross from Lyons over the bar from six yards when a goal looked certain.
Saints threatened for the first time in the 25th minute when Max Kucheriavyi made a yard of space for himself inside the Killie box and thrashed a shot at keeper Will Dennis, who beat it away with defender Lewis Mayo completing the clearance.
As conditions deteriorated towards the interval, Vassell sent a driver over the bar from a Watkins pass as St Johnstone’s defence again looked hesitant.
There was some surprise that Levein did not make changes for the second half but after 56 minutes, with the Ayrshire side still in control, he brought on Clark for midfielder Dan Phillips and five minutes later he made an impact.
From a Matt Smith free-kick wide on the left, Clark nipped in front of the Killie defence to knock the ball past Dennis, with a VAR checking confirming he was onside.
Killie responded and after being booked by referee John Beaton for fouling Vassell outside the box – the home fans claimed he had denied a goalscoring opportunity – Mitov tipped a Liam Polworth free-kick over the bar.
At the other end, as nerves seeped into the Killie defence, Clark tested Dennis with a low drive from inside the box before Gallacher somehow flashed a shot over the bar from a Fran Franczak cross when a leveller looked inevitable.
Dennis made a fabulous diving save from a powerful Smith volley in the 81st minute as St Johnstone kept up the pressure but the visitors steadied and in the end did enough to secure another three crucial points.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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