Forget St Johnstone. This was more like the St Andrew’s Sporting Club. Another day in Scottish football, another unseemly kerfuffle. At this crash, bang, wallop rate, Tommy Gilmour will be coming in to promote it. Stick Richard Foster, Danny Swanson, Jim Duffy and Neil Lennon on the bill and you could probably sell out the MGM Grand.

This was an astonishing spectacle and one which caught most folk on the hop. No wonder. The first half had been about as eventful as the Lanarkshire & District Paint Drying Championship but, my goodness, things certainly got going as the players trudged off the pitch at half-time.

The full-bloodied battle between that aforementioned St Johnstone duo of Foster and Swanson, and the general melee that ensued, resembled something you’d see in a saloon bar in the Wild West and eventually led to the sparring duo being sent off. The ramifications, of course, will possibly be far more severe. The St Johnstone top brass have already launched a “full and thorough” investigation while Foster and Swanson have both been suspended until further notice.

As all and sundry seemed to get involved in the escalating hostility, Darian MacKinnon found himself embroiled in something of a heated exchange with the St Johnstone manager, Tommy Wright, amid much shoving, finger-wagging, grappling and cursing.

MacKinnon admitted that he had never seen anything quite like Saturday’s bamboozling skirmish. “Not even in the juniors,” he said with a chuckle. “It was bizarre to say the least. But you can't do that. If you are going to do it, do it behind closed doors. It's not a good example for anyone, and I'm someone who likes a wee scrap now and again. They (Foster and Swanson) were shouting at each other all game. They were shouting about taking the ball in and defending but I never saw that coming. Did you?”

Well, no to be honest. “It was a wee bit heated,” continued MacKinnon with great understatement. “It's not usually like that with St Johnstone. Even their manager was having a go at me. Even when I was coming out for the start of the second half he bumped into me and was trying to get me into trouble. It's not usually like Tommy. He is a nice guy, but maybe all the carry on that has happened has made him go a bit mad.

"I've no idea what Tommy's problem was with me. He's probably upset because we were saying to the ref and the linesmen that the two St Johnstone players are off. Just to let them know, as you do, trying to get them off to make it easier for us. He's probably taken offence to that but anyone would do the same and everyone was doing it.”

Wright, himself, was not happy with MacKinnon’s interventions on an afternoon of argy-bargy. Amid the general chaos, a football match did break out. The nine-men of St Johnstone had re-grouped admirably after such a shock to the system and displayed terrific resolve and organisation during the second period but their spirited resistance was finally broken with just about the last kick of the game when Alex D’Acol pounced to pinch a vital win for Hamilton which hauled them off the foot of the table.

The Accies now face local rivals Motherwell on Wednesday night before another key encounter with Ross at the weekend as the battle to beat the drop intensifies. "It was a massive win for us,” said MacKinnon. “We knew we had to win today and hopefully we can go on a wee run now.”

With St Johnstone defending stoutly and demonstrating the kind of unity in strength that comes from adversity, Hamilton looked like they would be thwarted in their increasingly desperate attempts to force a winner. There were shots saved, shots blocked, shots blasted over and shots sliced wide. In the frenzied last knockings, Danny Redmond showed the composure required to set up D’Acol who also kept his head to spark scenes of leaping jubilation in the Hamilton ranks. "I kept saying to Ali (Crawford) and Dougie (Imries) that another chance would come but it came and we kept missing it,” said MacKinnon of the late bombardment. “I started to doubt it myself but when Redmond came on he showed the composure we needed and Alex does what he does.”

It was a breathless end to a quite breath-taking afternoon.