Max Kucheriavyi’s late brace earns St Johnstone unlikely point against Dundee

Posted Sunday, September 03, 2023 by PA

St Johnstone mounted a dramatic late fightback to claim a 2-2 draw against Dundee in the cinch Premiership at McDiarmid Park.

The visitors dominated proceedings for long spells and found themselves in command thanks to Scott Tiffoney’s opener and Ricki Lamie finding the net on his Dundee debut.

The introduction of Max Kucheriavyi was to change the game. The Ukrainian came off the bench to hand Saints a lifeline with eight minutes remaining and then popped up in the sixth minute stoppage time to earn Steven Maclean’s side an unlikely share of the spoils.

The hosts almost found themselves a goal in front after two minutes when Graham Carey’s corner was deflected skywards and was eventually met by Sam McClelland, who really should have at least found the target with his header from close range.

Joe Shaughnessy nodded over and Tiffoney’s tame effort was comfortably gathered as Dundee began to threaten the Saints goal.

Tiffoney went close when Dimitar Mitov could only partially clear Zach Robinson’s cross, but the winger’s low shot drifted wide.

On the half-hour mark, Amadou Bakayoko curled an effort inches past the post and they would finally be rewarded for their pressure five minutes later when they opened the scoring.

A well-worked free-kick ended with Bakayoko rising at the far post to head Finlay Robertson’s cross beyond Mitov.

A VAR check would follow to establish whether Tiffoney had made contact with the ball prior to it hitting the net before the goal was eventually awarded, much to the delight of the large travelling support.

Steven McLean introduced Chris Kane and Cammy McPherson into the action eight minutes after the restart as the Saints boss looked to give his side a desperately required spark, but it was to have little impact.

Dundee continued to look the more likely and Bakayoko’s brought out a good save from the Saints keeper before they extended their lead from the resulting corner.

Owen Beck’s pin-point delivery was rocketed high into the net by Lamie, who celebrated wildly after netting his first goal since joining the Dee on loan from Motherwell earlier in the week.

A defensive lapse by McClelland almost heaped further misery on the home side. Luke McCowan robbed the defender before rolling the ball through to Tiffoney, who was denied by an excellent save by Mitov.

St Johnstone almost grabbed a lifeline when Kane’s volley beat Trevor Carson, but rebounded back off the crossbar.

They would set up a dramatic finish with eight minutes left as Kucheriavyi stooped to head Carey’s cross past Carson for Saints’ first Premiership goal of the season.

Kane then headed into the arms of the Dundee keeper and James Brown blazed over the top as St Johnstone looked to complete a remarkable turnaround.

They were almost hit on the counter as the fourth official signalled five minutes of added time as Zak Rudden raced through on goal before guiding his effort into the side-netting.

Dundee looked set to comfortably see out the victory, though, they would suffer late heartache when Kucheriavyi slid the ball home from Luke Robinson’s cutback six minutes into added time to snatch a point for the home side.