St Johnstone recovered from conceding an early goal to completely overpower Aberdeen and take fourth place in the table.

John O'Neill's two second half strikes delighted the McDiarmid Park faithful and reflected the home side's superiority.

Saints dominated the visitors from the start, but fell behind to Jamie Buchan's 25th minute opener. His shot took a cruel deflection off Alan Kernaghan and flew past the diving Alan Main.

The home side achieved parity just before half-time from a penalty needlessly given away by ex-Saint John Inglis, who pushed Darren Dods as he went for a Gary Bollan free kick. Bollan placed the spot kick low and into the corner.

Saints took the lead seven minutes into the second half when an unmarked Kernaghan squeezed his shot through Derek Stillie's legs.

O'Neill, who was later named man of the match, picked up a pass from Connolly and beat Stillie with another low shot to the corner to make it three.

He piled on the misery for the Dons six minutes from time as he controlled Gerry McMahon's cross before flicking it with the outside of his right boot past the hapless keeper.

St Johnstone manager Sandy Clark admitted he was "absolutely delighted" with his team's performance as they prepare to fly out to Marbella on January 9.

"It was a great start to the year for us," said the Perth boss. "I am delighted for everyone in the squad, not just the players today

Aberdeen caretaker-manager Paul Hegarty: "I am really upset with the manner in which we lost. It was self-inflicted. Saints made it difficult for us. Their movement off the ball was better than ours and defensively we were very poor."

Asked about his chances of taking over full time as the Dons boss, Hegarty said: "It would be up to the chairman and the directors to decide in their own time."

St Johnstone: Main, McQuillan, Kernaghan, Dods, Bollan, McMahon, Kane, O'Neil, Scott, Connolly, Simao. Subs: Grant, Griffin, Robertson, McAnespie, Lowndes.

Aberdeen: Stillie, Perry, Inglis, Whyte, Dow, Pepper, Kiriakov, Buchan, Rowson, Jess, Winters. Subs: Smith, Newell, Gillies, Hart, Esson.