Partick Thistle 0 - 1 St Mirren

Picture By Jeff Holmes

A debut goal from James Dayton was enough to give St Mirren a crucial victory over Partick Thistle at Firhill on Friday night.

Dayton scored after only six minutes and although the home side dominated for long spells thereafter, St Mirren were able to soak up the pressure.

The win sees St Mirren leapfrog Motherwell into 10th place, out of the relegation play-off position, at least until the Steelmen play St Johnstone on Saturday.

It was a scrappy opening to the match, typified by the careless concession of possession in midfield by Partick that led to the early breakthrough for the visitors.

A slack pass from Stuart Bannigan allowed St Mirren to feed the ball wide where Thistle new boy Callum Booth was forced to concede a corner, and from the resulting delivery St Mirren went ahead after just six minutes.

Stevie Mallan's centre caused havoc in the Thistle defence, and when the ball was only partially cleared, the on-loan Dayton swept home from 12 yards to get his Saints' career off to the perfect start only a day after arriving from Oldham.

Thistle responded and Bannigan had a decent chance when a looping cross from Ryan Stevenson found him inside the area, but the midfielder could only head wide.

A nice move then saw Steven Lawless feed Stevenson on the by-line, but the Thistle captain's cutback across goal was forced clear by Jeroen Tesselaar's desperate lunge.

Booth then got forward to flash a dangerous ball across the six yard line that Stevenson just failed to connect with, before Stephen O'Donnell picked up the pieces at the back post and forced Mark Ridgers into a good save.

From the resulting corner, a St Mirren breakaway almost saw them score a second as a lung-bursting run onto a long ball from Tesselaar allowed the defender to tee up Kenny McLean whose low drive was inches past the left-hand post.

The pattern of the game was now set, with Thistle dominating possession but struggling to find the final killer ball, and St Mirren sitting in but looking dangerous on the counter.

This continued well into the second half, and although the visitors continued to sit deeper and deeper, the home side were not really threatening to trouble Ridgers' goal as time and again a Thistle ball into the area was repelled by the stubborn Saints rear-guard.

Goalscorer Dayton then limped off feeling his hamstring to be replaced by Lewis McLear, and Gary Teale will be hoping that the injury is nothing too serious for his new signing.

Stevenson had a decent opportunity with 15 minutes remaining, but he could only volley high over the bar after the ball broke to him from a long O'Donnell throw-in.

St Mirren had barely crossed the halfway line in the second period, but their approach was vindicated as they closed out the game for a crucial three points in the relegation dog-fight at the bottom of the Premiership, with Thistle running out of ideas long before the final whistle.