Allan Campbell was the hero for Motherwell as Stephen Robinson's side earned their first league win of the season over St Johnstone.
After a lacklustre start to the campaign and the departure of creative spark David Turnbull, concerns had been raised about Stephen Robinson's side.
However, Campbell made a strong case to fill the shoes of his former teammate with a top showing against Callum Davidson's men.
After just four minutes, Campbell got the hosts off to the perfect start as picked the ball up and surged at the Saints defence, before unleashing a low drive into the bottom right to open the scoring.
The Steelmen were controlling the game, but were nearly masters of their own demise as a short Ricki Lamie back pass was snapped upon by Michael O'Halloran but Trevor Carson was quick off his line to deflect the shot wide after 19 minutes.
Campbell was again the driving force for the home side as after 30 minutes he burst down the right blank and chipped the ball into the six-yard box, however Callum Lang was just beaten to the header.
The away men were fighting for the scraps to try and level, and after a corner fell to Ali McCann the lofted shot almost went over the head of Carson, but the stopper collected the ball well after 36 minutes.
The visitors were coming back into the game as Dan McNamara whipped a dangerous ball into the box and found Callium Hendry unmarked in space - but the attacker couldn't convert the chance.
Unmarked Saints defender Jason Kerr almost levelled after finding space from a corner just after half time, but his header was blazed over the bar.
Liam Polworth nearly doubled the lead after 59 minutes as his curling free-kick from a tight angle on the left forced a finger-tip save out of Elliot Parish.
Polworth's set-pieces were causing problems and moments later he found centre-back Bevis Mugabi in space from a free-kick again, but the Uganda cap blazed the header over the bar despite having time and space.
'Well were holding their defensive shape going into the final 20 minutes, but Campbell was again at the heart of things. His shot fro range skewed off the boot of Kerr, but the deflected drive fell straight to the gloves of Parish.
Craig Conway cut in from the right flank with the rain pouring down to test Carson, but the 'keeper held the shot well.
In the end, Stephen Robinson's side earned their first win of the season to start a packed fixtures list with a positive ahead of their Europa League qualifier against Coleraine and a trip to Aberdeen.
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