Dundee United made it three Premiership wins in a row with a narrow 1-0 victory over St Johnstone at Tannadice.

Defender Emmanuel Adegboyega was the home hero with the only goal of the game in the first half.

The win lifted the Terrors up to fourth in the table above Aberdeen who play Sunday, while Saints, who secured a memorable win over Celtic last week, remain bottom.

The Terrors made two changes to the team that beat Hearts at Tynecastle last week with Allan Campbell and Louis Moult dropping to the bench to be replaced by wingers Kristijan Trapanovski and Glenn Middleton.

Saints made one tweak to the side that beat the Hoops with Barry Douglas replacing the injured Drey Wright.

After an even opening, the hosts were first to threaten in the eighth minute when Middleton teed up Will Ferry on the edge of the box and he hit a fierce shot that flew just wide of St Johnstone goalkeeper Andy Fisher’s right-hand post.

That though was a rare opening, with both sides finding it hard to carve out further clear-cut opportunities.

However, the deadlock was finally broken by United in the 25th minute. Ferry delivered a corner from the right with Sam Dalby playing the ball back across goal to Adegboyega and he fired home from close range.

Saints would have been fuming as the corner was needlessly given away.

St Johnstone finally had their first sight of goal when Stephen Duke-McKenna found space inside the Dundee United box but his curling effort sailed just past home keeper Jack Walton’s post.

Saints made the better start after the break and had a chance when Makenzie Kirk ran from the halfway line to the edge of the home box but his low shot sailed wide.

Home defender Declan Gallagher had a chance at a corner, with Fisher having to pull off a vital save to keep out the defender’s header.

Saints were struggling to threaten but Adama Sidibeh came close with a looping header from a Josh McPake cross that flew just wide.

Gallagher then had another opportunity from a Ryan Strain free-kick when he found himself with time and space inside the Saints box but he could only direct his bullet header over.

The pendulum swung St Johnstone’s way again with McPake seeing a long-range effort deflected past a post before United passed up a superb chance to double their advantage when Luca Stephenson picked out Moult with a cutback but the substitute striker’s shot was well-saved by Fisher.

McPake had another chance deep into stoppage time but once more it was deflected wide before another sub Benji Kimpioka fired inches wide.

What the managers said…

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin: “It would be nice one day to be 3-0 up and to relax and enjoy the game. We’ve had to grind out three 1-0 victories against really difficult opposition.

“There was a lot riding on the game for both teams and we knew Saints would be a really tough team to play.

“We’re fighting hard to maintain the pace against Hibs and Aberdeen for the European places and it’s nice to get the result to put pressure on those two teams for tomorrow.

“There’s a great confidence within the group right now but today could have been a bit more comfortable than what it was.

“I think it’s our seventh or eighth 1-0 victory. We’d like to be a bit more entertaining but there are two sides to the game.”

St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari: “We played well. We put on a performance.

“We knew it would be very tight. We thought it would be a game of few chances.

“The first half was very evenly matched. Yes, we can be disappointed and we are disappointed with how we lost the goal. Not about defending the set-piece, because those things can happen, but how we concede the corner.

“But performance, the fight is there, everything is there. Now, five games to go. Would we like to be closer to our opponents? Yes, but we could not get there.

“Now it’s five games. Let’s see where we go.”

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