It's amazing what ninety minutes of football can do.

The St Mirren faithful trudged into the stadium out of a sense of duty having seen their side score a measly eight goals in 17 home matches.

By the time the final whistle blew, the trudge was replaced by a skip and a hop after they had watched their side score half their previous total in a stunning and unexpected victory.

A combination of suspensions, injuries and ripped-up contracts saw a much-changed St Mirren team take to the field and manager Gary Teale might be wishing that he had stumbled upon this line-up far earlier.

Sean Kelly was a standout performer in the centre of defence and got Saints off to the perfect start when he gratefully accepted Nathan Eccleston's under-hit back pass and drilled the ball across Craig Samson after seven minutes.

On a weekend that could have seen them relegated, St Mirren now find themselves seven points behind Motherwell with four games remaining.

No side in the Premiership era has managed to overturn the point deficit facing the Paisley side and there is an acceptance that is probably too late.

What they aim to do now, however, is to emulate Championship winners Hearts who struggled with the burden of facing relegation for most of last season and yet finished strongly once the pressure was lifted.

"Hopefully we can grab another win and drag Motherwell down in the next couple of games," said Kelly.

"We know it is a long shot and it is going to be very hard as we are depending on other results. "I think we have probably left it too late but we will keep fighting.

"In a way the pressure has come off because there is nothing below us so we can just go and have the freedom to play."

Kelly has been mainly deployed in the full-back position and was only shifted to a central role due to the suspension of Jim Goodwin and Viktor Genev, but admitted he feels far more comfortable at centre-back.

"That is the position I played coming through the youth teams. I've just never really had the chance to play there for the first-team," said Kelly.

"It has been overdue because it is where I feel most comfortable and I think it is my best position."

Kelly was one of six players in the St Mirren line-up aged 21 or below and it was another of the youngsters who doubled their advantage on 33 minutes.

James Dayton was released down the right-hand channel by Steven Thompson and he fed the ball inside to Jason Naismith whose parried shot fell kindly for Kieran Sadlier to nod home his first for the club.

There was a confidence about St Mirren that has rarely been on display this season and even when Josh Magennis halved the deficit shortly after the break they provided an instant response. Two penalties in the space of ten minutes from Steven Thompson restored and then extended the home side's lead. It took the striker beyond a half-century of goals for the club.