St Mirren were defeated by Motherwell at the Simple Digital Arena in the first meeting between the two since 2015.
Goals from David Turnbull and Chris Cadden either side of half-time gave the Lanarkshire side all three points on a frustrating evening for Saints.
It was a match that lacked real quality in the opening exchanges with the first opportunity coming on 22 minutes when Stephen McGinn lashed a shot well over from 25 yards.
Adam Hammill tested Trevor Carson a few minutes later, but his shot from the angle was fairly straight-forward for the Northern Irish goalkeeper.
As the game approaching the 30 minute mark, Motherwell took the lead. A fierce drive from around 20 yards out from David Turnbull squirmed underneath Saints goalkeeper Craig Samson to give the visitors the lead. It was a powerful effort that skidded off the surface and just managed to find its way into the net.
The visitors really should have doubled their advantage just over five minutes later when a good ball from Chris Cadden met the head Curtis Main who was all on his own inside the Saints box. Somehow the striker could only only nod the ball straight at Samson.
1-0 it remained heading into the interval, but that changed quickly into the second half.
With a little over a minute played after the break, Chris Cadden curled home Motherwell's second from the edge of the area. It was another neat strike, but frustrating from a Saints point of view to concede so early in the second half.
On 57 minutes, Ryan Edwards went down in the box under the challenge of two Motherwell players and it looked like there could be a case for a penalty, though given there was no real protest from the winger about his booking for simulation it may suggest no penalty award was the right decision.
Things went from bad to worse for Saints when Ryan Flynn received his marching orders after a late high challenge on Richard Tait who was bounding up the left wing.
After a couple of decent home performances without perhaps getting what we deserved there could be no real complaints from the Buddies this evening.
Full Time: St Mirren 0-2 Motherwell
St Mirren: Samson, P.McGinn, Ferdinand, Jones, Hodson, Edwards, McGinn, Flynn, Hammill (Willock 50), Smith (Mullen 50), Jackson
Subs Not Used: Rogers, Baird, MacPherson, Erhahon, McShane
Motherwell: Carson, Tait, McHugh, Aldred, Hartley, Cadden, Turnbull (Maguire 90) , Grimshaw, Bigirimana (Campbell 71), Bowman, Main (Johnson 82)
Subs Not Used: Gillespie, Frear, Mbulu, Sammon
Referee: Kevin Glancy
Assistant Referee: Paul O'Neill
Assistant Referee: Michael Banks
Fourth Official: John McKendrick
Attendance: 4,001
