St Mirren made it two wins from two in the new Scottish Premiership season as Killian Phillips' second-half penalty proved decisive in a tight encounter with St Johnstone.

Samuel Ramos was denied by a combination of a save and the crossbar for the home side before St Johnstone's Jamie Gullan failed to covert a penalty just after the break.

As a stalemate seemed increasingly likely, Ramos was upended in the area and Phillips coolly converted to maintain St Mirren's unblemished start.

Windy conditions did not help on a fiery pitch but there was a clear intent to try to play football. The story of the game seemed to be a scarcity of genuine chances with St Mirren edging the opening half.

The first big opportunity took 25 minutes to arrive. A lovely move was recycled wide and Ramos powered in a header that Toby Steward tipped high off the bar before the ball was somehow scrambled clear with players lunging for a touch.

St Johnstone's first shot on goal came from the penalty spot. After a review, referee Ross Hardie deemed Alex Gogic had handled in the area. Gullan aimed to the bottom-right corner but Jacob Chapman anticipated to parry away.

Matthew Foulds then went close for the visitors with a powerful shot just wide before Jake Young had an effort touched past the post at the other end.

St Johnstone did respond to conceding with Cheick Diabate extremely unlucky with a header that struck the post before Louis Lloyd blew a great opening with indecision.

Questions were asked of St Mirren after dicing with relegation last season. This is the start of dreams.

Taking six points from their opening two fixtures will do wonders for belief, confidence and the general mood of all connected with the club.

It's only a start but banked points at this stage are priceless and immediately takes a degree of pressure off as they try to gel new players into the system.

They will undoubtedly play better but did enough to get in front and then stifle a significant fightback. Two clean sheets is also a big plus albeit they had to rely on Chapman's penalty save to earn that.

An extremely valuable win leaves them top of the table before a tough Premier Sports Cup tie against Rangers at Ibrox next weekend.

Newly promoted St Johnstone don't look out of place in the top flight and after an opening-day win they came to Paisley with confidence.

No shots on target in the first half was a disappointment although they gave up only one genuine chance to their opponents.

Gullan's missed spot-kick will be hugely frustrating. He just didn't get the power or angle right, allowing Chapman to save.

The Perth side can point to one or two moments of bad luck, particularly Diabate's header off the post that seemed in. A solid start to their campaign that just lacked cutting edge in this fixture.

St Mirren manager Craig McLeish: "Delighted for the group, a really good, hard-fought win.

"A lot of our performance was good. We just had to add a bit more intensity to our performance in the first half. We stepped it up a bit second half."

St Johnstone head coach Simo Valakari: "We know the nature of this league. If you don't take your chance, the opponent will get a chance. They took it. No hard feelings.

"We played a very good 45 minutes. Second half, it was a game of two penalties. They scored theirs and I congratulate them."

St Mirren travel to Ibrox to face Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup second round on Sunday, 16 August (16:00 BST).

St Johnstone are not due back in action until they visit Hearts in the Premiership on Saturday, 29 August (15:00).