St Mirren moved up to ninth in the Ladbrokes Premiership and six points away from bottom after a deserved 1-0 win over Hearts at the Simple Digital Arena.
Jon Obika's 12th goal of the season at the beginning of the second-half was enough to secure an important three points for Jim Goodwin's men.
The Buddies started with intent with Akin Famewo knocking just wide after swinging his foot at a Cammy MacPherson corner in the fourth minute.
Sam Foley almost grabbed the opener on 10 minutes after good work from Alex Jakubiak on the right saw the striker cut the ball back across the box. The Hearts defence couldn't deal with the danger and sent it as far as Foley who put his effort over.
Four minutes later it was Ilkay Durmus who almost opened the scoring after strong play down the left-hand side. The winger knocked the ball beyond a Hearts defender and swung a cross in from the byline that almost caught out Jambos goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal who had to tip over. From the resultant corner Loic Damour did well to block as he denied Calum Waters' goal-bound piledriver from 20 yards.
Still Saints pressed for the first goal and could have had it on 23 minutes had Obika got anything on a wonderful Ross Wallace cross.
Hearts had their first real opportunity on 25 minutes when Aaron Hickey had a go from distance but Vaclav Hladky was down well to gather. A minute later Sean Clare managed to get his head onto a Michael Smith cross from the right but nodded well over.
Saints were dealt a major blow at the half-hour mark when Conor McCarthy went down near the half-way line clutching his left hamstring. The defender initially looked like he may have been okay to continue after returning to his feet but again went down and had to be replaced by Jamie McGrath with Sam Foley moving into centre-half.
The Buddies almost had the lead with five minutes of the first-half remaining. Jakubiak's cut-back found its way to the oncoming MacPherson who smashed towards goal only for Zlamal to somehow block and send over. The resultant corner eventually found its way to Durmus at the far end of the box but the Turkish winger put it just over.
Hearts made a change at the break with Daniel Stendel bringing on Liam Boyce in place of Clare. But it was Saints who started the brighter and had their reward on 48 minutes as Obika netted the opener. Wallace intercepted the ball deep in the St Mirren half and sent a sensational long ball forward that found a galloping Obika as he burst through on goal. The forward did so well to hold off challenges from Clevid Dikamona and Craig Halkett before slotting beyond Zlamal for his 12th goal of the season and his seventh of 2020.
The Buddies almost grabbed a second quickly after with Zlamal having to deny Jakubiak. McGrath picked the ball up in middle of the park, knocking beyond Dikamona and Hickey, before sliding through to Jakubiak whose low drive across the face was touched wide by the Jambos goalkeeper Zlamal.
The Buddies were forced into another change on 55 minutes when MacPherson pulled up and had to be seen by the physio. The midfielder had to be replaced by Tony Andreu.
As if Saints luck with injuries wasn't bad enough, Jim Goodwin was forced into a third substitution on 70 minutes when Durmus had to come off.
As was probably expected in the final throes of the match, Hearts were having most of the pressure but were failing to create anything. But with 10 minutes to go, the Jambos had a glorious chance to find an equaliser when Smith rolled a low ball across the face of the Saints box where it fell kindly for Lewis Moore. It looked like Moore would slide home from close-range but it came off his knee and behind for a goal kick.
With six additional minutes to be played, St Mirren had a great opportunity to kill the game off on the counter only for Jakubiak's attempted pass to Obika being cut out by the Hearts defence.
In the final seconds Hearts sent goalkeeper Zlamal up for a corner but the delivery was poor allowing the Saints defence to clear with referee Alan Muir blowing his whistle to signal the end of the match and what could prove to be a massive three points for Jim Goodwin's men.
Full-Time: St Mirren 1-0 Hearts
St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy (McGrath 31), Famewo, Waters, Wallace, MacPherson (Andreu 55), Foley (c), Durmus (McAllister 70), Obika, Jakubiak
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Morias, Mullen, Chabbi
Hearts: Zlamal, Smith, Halkett, Dikamona, Hickey, Clare, Damour (Meshino 74), Moore, Bozanic (Irving 60), Naismith (c), Washington
Subs Not Used: Pereira, Walker, Langer, Henderson
Referee: Alan Muir
Assistant Referee: Graham Chambers
Assistant Referee: Joseph Lawson
Fourth Official: Kevin Graham
Attendance: 5,662
