A late penalty and a fine Craig Sibbald finish steered Dundee United to an enthralling comeback win over 10-man St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

With just six minutes left of normal time, a video assistant referee (VAR) review encouraged match official John Beaton to send off Alex Gogic for a late lunge on Nikolaj Moeller and substitute Amar Fatah cooly rolled home the spot-kick to put United ahead for the first time.

The icing was put on the cake when Sibbald, after his superb long-ranger at Ibrox last week, beautifully curled home a third in the dying seconds to send United up into third place.

It left St Mirren shell shocked after they dominated large spells of the game, but they could not find a cutting edge to match their possession, shots or corner count.

The match was level at the break after a tale of two goalkeeping mistakes had livened up a fairly turgid first period.

First, home goalie Yevhen Kucherenko flapped at a deflected cross, allowing Dan Nlundulu the easiest of headers into the unguarded top corner of his net.

St Mirren’s lead didn’t last, despite their domination, when their own keeper, Shamal George, inexplicably handled the ball outside the area.

United striker Zac Sapsford swung his right boot at the free-kick from 19 yards, reversing the ball under the wall into George’s bottom right-hand corner.

St Mirren bossed most of the second half, creating multiple corners and vastly outdoing their hosts for shots at goal. Until, of course, the final few minutes of madness gave the scoreline, and therefore the game, a completely different complexion.