THIS rollercoaster encounter not only delayed Celtic's coronation as SPL champions, it also consolidated Motherwell's second place in the table and kept Stuart McCall's side on course for Europe once again.

The visit of St Mirren to Fir Park meant the arrival of the Lanarkshire side's least favourite SPL guests. Thanks to this obdurate display, the visitors remain the only side in the Scottish top flight not defeated by Motherwell this term.

Indeed, during Stuart McCall's 28-month tenure as manager of the Lanarkshire club, St Mirren have never been beaten here and only once tasted defeat to their hosts, in a 1-0 setback in Paisley at the beginning of last season.

It was perhaps no surprise then that McCall was sanguine over the securing of a hard-fought point. He said: "I thought it was a terrific game with four great goals and I am pleased with the performance against a very good St Mirren side.

"If we can take that form into the last five games I will be more than happy."

Yet with pre-match statistics providing plenty of succour for Danny Lennon's men it was no surprise St Mirren opened brightly, with Paul McGowan's intelligent promptings to the fore.

In eight minutes Dougie Imrie played Kenny McLean in through the heart of the home guard and only a sprightly intervention by Darren Randolph denied Lennon's side the opener.

But Motherwell, with Nicky Law and Keith Lasley prominent, began to grow in confidence and when the former sent Henrik Ojamaa clear inside the St Mirren area a lack of composure contributed to a poor finish by the Estonian, who failed to cause Craig Samson any real problems with a tame 12-yard effort.

However, Motherwell did create a serious problem for Samson on 34 minutes. A superbly weighted cross by skipper Keith Lasley found top scorer Michael Higdon and he headed home a powerful downward effort to beat the former Kilmarnock goalkeeper.

With the game suffering from a lack of penetration on both sides a spectacular moment of individual skill lit up proceedings.

Conor Newton took possession of the ball almost 25 yards out and let fly with a right-foot drive that beat the flying Randolph inside his top right corner to restore parity just before the break.

After the interval it was Motherwell who threatened first when Ojamaa burst into the Saints' box and drew a superb tip over from Samson.

But with James McFadden starting to revel in his left-sided role, Motherwell began to exert control on the game and Chris Humphrey was next to test Samson with a diagonal right-foot drive which the St Mirren keeper superbly clawed away.

However, the Fir Park side's inability to make the most of their chances came back to haunt them on 75 minutes when St Mirren substitute Lewis Guy administered a close-range finish from Kenny McLean's cross.

With the minutes ticking away, it was left to McFadden to step up to the plate and draw Motherwell level. When St Mirren centre-back Marc McAusland fouled Higdon with six minutes left and a free-kick resulted, he curled a superb 20-yard shot inside Samson's left upright.

Despite having to settle for a point, St Mirren manager Lennon was pleased with the outcome.

He said: "Every time we play Motherwell the fans are entertained and again football was the winner. Motherwell are a very good attacking side who have had tremendous consistency and that's why they are second.

"But we have made progress and we need to keep that going over the last five games of the season. Seventh place remains our target."