Ali Crawford’s stunning first-half finish sent St Johnstone fans home in high spirits.
The midfielder on loan from Bolton Wanderers curled in a low beauty with just 17 minutes on the clock to claim all three points at Tannadice.
Goalkeeper Zander Clark was in sublime form all afternoon, especially in the second half when Dundee United applied the pressure.
Saints had made the early headway and Chris Kane’s ambitious front post flick from Cammy MacPherson’s corner wasn’t all that far away from troubling Benjamin Siegrist.
The Perth pressure continued and soon Glenn Middleton opened up his legs down the left flank before producing a delivery which, at first, didn’t appear troublesome. Siegrist spilled but there was no player in a blue shirt positioned to take advantage.
Callum Davidson’s side had looked comfortable with MacPherson, Craig Bryson and Crawford always keen to get in the ball and keep the play ticking over.
And it was Crawford who conjured up a 17th minute moment of quality to curl a beautiful strike from 20 yards into the bottom corner of the net after Jeando Fuchs had been dispossessed.
He certainly enjoyed the moment as he wandered over to celebrate with the sizable travelling support.
United had looked at their most threatening from corner kicks and almost grabbed a leveller as the half hour mark approached. Dylan Levitt’s cross was met by Ryan Edwards whose header had the required power, but not direction to evade Clark’s left hand.
Tannadice boss Tam Courts looked to his bench for the start of the second half and replaced Logan Chalmers and Louis Appere with Peter Pawlett and Ilmari Niskanen.
But quickly Saints could have doubled their advantage when Michael O’Halloran was suddenly bursting into the right side of the box. There was little, if any, composure on display and he skied well over the crossbar from a promising position.
United’s main threat continued to come from deliveries into the box and Levitt’s 58th minute free-kick again picked out Edwards. Again, Clark was alert to touch the ball over for a corner. It was a fine piece of goalkeeping.
The hosts were enjoying a spell of pressure but the Saints rearguard, with captain Liam Gordon at its heart, held strong. A number of committed defenders quickly put their bodies on the line to block Ian Harkes’ powerful drive.
Clark, who this week expressed his strong desire to get back into the Scotland squad, was having a wonderful time of it between the posts and pulled off his best save of the afternoon on 72 minutes.
Pawlett had nodded Kieran Freeman’s delivery back across goal and it appeared destined to nestle in the back of the net. Not on Clark’s watch. He quickly shuffled his feet, changed direction and manager to get a hand out.
More was to come from the Saints No.1 with just four minutes remaining. First he reacted superbly to deny Pawlett from close range and then got back to his feet to keep out Nicky Clark’s follow-up.
There was to be one more stop right at the death as United threw everything at a leveller. Clark was not going to be defeated.
