Saints came within seconds of breaking their two-game losing streak as Andy Cole netted a 90th-minute equaliser for ten-man Blackburn this afternoon.

Saints had created chance after chance and their visitors were only kept in the match by a string of good saves from 'keeper Brad Friedel.

After having won four games on the bounce, Gordon Strachan's men came into this match having lost twice in a row - albeit at Manchester United and Liverpool.

But they seemed to have got those defeats out of their system against Graeme Souness's side with a James Beattie penalty on 38 minutes. It was given after Anders Svensson was tripped from behind by Craig Short and Beattie drilled home his third spot kick in four Premiership matches.

Friedel made a whole host of top saves to deny Chris Marsden, Fabrice Fernandes, Brett Ormerod and Anders Svensson but his side rarely posed any threat to the Saints defence.

Their case was not helped when their captain, Tugay, was given his marching orders with 14 minuites left after getting his second booking of the match.

But with only seconds remaining David Dunn broke down the left and skipped past several Saints challenges before crossing across the face of the goal for Cole to turn in.

Saints 1 Blackburn 1

Full match report in the Daily Echo on Mondy