St Johnstone and Kilmarnock had to settle for a share of the spoils but it will be the visitors who went home the more disappointed.

A first-half wonder goal from Saints' Tommy Lovenkrands and a quick Killie equaliser from winger Andy McLaren lit up a grey day in Perth.

After a slow start the Premier League encounter came to life with two goals in as many minutes at McDiarmid Park.

Saints should have gone ahead in the second minute when Paul Hartley broke clear down the right wing but with players free in the box he opted to shoot straight at the keeper.

Gary Bollan had a 20-yard free-kick deflected off the wall on seven minutes, before Ally McCoist had a penalty claim rightly turned down.

Then came the goals. First, a wonderful Lovenkrands strike which completely caught Gordon Marshall off guard gave the Perth side the advantage.

But that was followed 40 seconds later by McLaren's 25-yard screamer into the top left corner which left Alan Main with no chance.

In the wet conditions, the players were finding it hard to follow those goals up.

Saints had two good chances though; Graeme Jones was fed an inviting cross by Hartley but put his header over the bar. Lovenkrands tried his luck with a speculative 30-yard chip which deceived Marshall but went just wide.

Killie could have taken the lead when they won a free-kick on the edge of the box. The shot was powered goalwards by McLaren only for Main to save well down at his left-hand side.

Moments later, Ally Mitchell had a fierce shot deflected wide for a corner off the legs of Nick Dasovic but the end result was a booking for either side - Mohamed Sylla and Chris Innes involved in a tussle off the ball.

In an entertaining second half Killie dominated possession but were unable to convert possession into goals.

McCoist missed by inches with an excellent header after 50 minutes and had another chance shortly afterwards with a cheeky curling shot to the top right which struck the bar.

Alan Mahood also hit the wood-work with a diving header moments earlier.

Saints were struggling to get back into the game even after producing substitutes as Kilmarnock continued to control possession having brought on veteran playmaker Ian Durrant.

But in a scrappy last 20 minutes both sides fought hard for possession with very little end result.

Saints threw on John Paul McBride in a bid to win more of the ball and it paid off briefly, but neither team was able to break the deadlock.