St Mirren extended the unbeaten run to 10 matches with a 1-0 win over Hearts at The SMiSA Stadium.
Ryan Strain's early goal was enough to secure the points and it could have been even more comfortable if strikes from Greg Kiltie, Mikael Mandron and Alex Greive hadn't been disallowed.
Stephen Robinson made two changes from the side that defeated Motherwell last Saturday at Fir Park. Keanu Baccus and Toyosi Olusanya came into the starting eleven in place of Caolan Boyd-Munce and Mandron.
Saints got off to a flying start with Strain putting us in front on just seven minutes. After providing for Scott Tanser's winner against Motherwell, Strain was the recipient as Tanser returned the favour with a low ball across the face of the box that was tapped home by the Australian. It was his third goal against the Jambos at the SMiSA Stadium having scored in the two previous encounters with Steven Naismith's side last season.
Ryan Strain scores winner against Hearts (Image: Allan Picken)
The Buddies went close to a second just after the 20 minute mark when Olusanya raced on to a ball over the top. The forward probably took one touch too many which narrowed the angle and saw his effort saved by Zander Clark. The ball came back out to Kiltie whose shot was blocked on the line.
Kiltie thought he had doubled Saints' advantage when he had the ball in the net on 31 minutes but it had been ruled out for a foul.
Hearts started the second-half brighter and almost equalised just before the hour mark when Kye Rowles met Stephen Kingsley's corner kick. But his header crashed off the bar and was cleared off the line.
Stephen Robinson responded by making three changes with Boyd-Munce, Greive and Mandron on to replace Baccus, Olusanya and Conor McMenamin.
It was Mandron who thought he'd made it 2-0 within seven minutes of coming on to the park when he stole the ball off Kent and slotted beyond Clark. But referee Nick Walsh pulled it back for a foul which - despite looking soft - a VAR check confirmed.
Zach Hemming made a wonderful save with 15 minutes remaining to keep Saints ahead. The goalkeeper was down at full-stretch to tip Cammy Devlin's low strike by the post after the Australian had got in behind the Saints defence.
Greive looked like he had settled it in the final minutes of normal time when he met a Kiltie nod down and headed home from close range. But a lengthy VAR check eventually ruled the goal out for offside much to the frustration of the Saints crowd.
In the final moments of the match, Hemming made another huge save to deny Lawrence Shankland an equaliser to ensure his own clean sheet and all three points for the Saints.
Full-Time: St Mirren 1-0 Hearts
St Mirren: Hemming, Fraser, Gogic, Taylor (Dunne 76), Strain, Baccus (Boyd-Munce 60), O'Hara (c), Tanser, Kiltie, Olusanya (Mandron 60), McMenamin (Greive 60)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Bolton, Small, Flynn, Nahmani
Hearts: Clark, Atkinson (Sibbick 45), Kent, Rowles (Offiah 64), Kingsley, Baningime (Forrest 65), Nieuwenhof, Devlin (Grant 76), Boyce, Vargas, Shankland (c)
Subs Not Used: McGovern, Haring, Denholm, Tait, Lowry
Referee: Nick Walsh
Assistant Referee: David Roome
Assistant Referee: Ross Nelson
Fourth Official: Alastair Grieve
VAR: David Dickinson
Attendance: 7,537
