Ten-man St Johnstone produced a stunning late comeback to rescue a Scottish Premiership point and deflate Falkirk at McDiarmid Park.

John McGlynn's side looked so close to producing back-to-back top-flight victories, but in the fifth minute of stoppage time, St Johnstone won a free-kick just outside the box.

Summer signing Enes Alic stepped up and unleashed a pinpoint left-foot strike to send the home fans wild.

The opening stages in Perth lacked a spark, quite appropriate following the pre-match news that the East Stand would be closed because of an electrical fault.

Taylor Steven and Scott Bain appeared to be having their own individual battle with the two biggest moments in the first half.

Steven's thunderous strike was tipped over the crossbar by Bain, before the St Johnstone attacker moved in behind the defence and was denied again by the Falkirk goalkeeper, who stretched out a leg to deflect another attempt over.

Bain has been called up to Sebastian Pocognoli's Scotland squad for the upcoming Nations League matches, and continues to state his case to add to his four caps.

The second-half turning point arrived when St Johnstone's Cheick Diabate, already on a yellow card, received a second booking.

Seven minutes later, Falkirk took the lead as Owen Eames raced down the left, and his cutback made it through to Ethan Ross, who scored his first Premiership goal of the season.

The game still had an electric finish to come, though, when Alic stepped up to grab a point for St Johnstone.

When it comes to the end of the season, this could be a valuable point for St Johnstone as they showed their character again.

Many around McDiarmid Park might have wondered what was going through Simo Valakari's head as he stood on the touchline with his team a man and a goal down.

The manager made big decisions, introducing Sam Stanton and Ruari Paton, and that helped ease some of the Falkirk pressure after the opening goal and allowed them to test Scott Bain in the visitors' goal.

With pretty much the last kick of the game, left-back Alic stepped up with a special free-kick to delight the home support.

The kind of moment that could add to the newly promoted side's confidence and it continues their unbeaten run at home back in the top flight, following wins over Kilmarnock and Hibernian.

John McGlynn is often calm on the sidelines but, throughout this, the Falkirk manager was animated, even more so after his team scored.

It would have been understandable if he was thinking about the trip to Tannadice earlier this month, when his side lost a late equaliser to Dundee United.

The Falkirk manager's fears were realised when Alic produced a special free-kick to ensure the visitors left Perth with only one point instead of three.

McGlynn freshened things up through the second half, but the substitutes couldn't combine to give their team a more comfortable lead.

Falkirk were seconds away from having a better record at this point compared to their six points from seven matches in last season's impressive campaign.

Instead, that late equaliser means they match that record at this point. It's still early in the season, but McGlynn and the fans will be hurting that they couldn't make it back-to-back victories after the win at home to Hearts on Tuesday.

Falkirk manager John McGlynn: "When you're 1-0 up in the 94th minute, it's a sore one to take.

"Looking at the whole game, we never got to the levels I'd have liked, at any time. It was nip-and-tuck, a game of chess tactically. It was slow, methodical, no real cutting edge to our play.

"We started the second half much better, much brighter and we score a good goal. When St Johnstone go down to 10 men, we should go on and win the game.

"Their free-kick is executed really well but we brought it on ourselves, not retaining the ball. We've given away too many silly free-kicks.

Head coach Simo Valakari said of St Johnstone's late goal: "It was a moment in which we showed quality, and we needed it.

"It was not the prettiest game, for many reasons, but we fought through it.

"It tells you how tight this league is. There was nothing between the teams. With the red card, we put everything into it and I was very pleased.

"I enjoyed how we played in the last 20 minutes, there was a never-say-die attitude and we just pushed and pushed.

"It's a big show of character. I have never doubted our spirit. Sometimes we don't play well, there are things we have to improve, but the attitude is always there."