It is a brave fan that takes the risk of booing a former player upon their return to a club with their new team, as the laws of football superstition dictate they will come back to haunt them by making a telling contribution to the outcome of the match.

Partick Thistle supporters probably felt they were safe to give their former midfielder Paul Paton both barrels though as he lined up for St Johnstone at Firhill on Saturday, given his goalscoring ratio of one in every twenty games or so.

As it turned out, Paton’s contribution to a comfortable victory for the visitors was rather more understated than that of his teammates Danny Swanson, who set up both goals for the Saints, or goalscorers Steven Anderson and Steven MacLean. His presence was no less important though, as he pressed, harassed and in the end got on top of the home midfield to make sure that his former employers struggled to get a foothold in the game.

At the end, the sight of Paton smiling and celebrating on the Firhill pitch in front of the St Johnstone fans in the Colin Weir Stand was one that would have stuck somewhat in the home support’s collective craw, but for Paton himself, the triumph was tainted slightly by the less than hospitable welcome he had received at a place he still holds affection for.

“It was a good win but I was gutted with the reception I received from the Thistle fans, not that it wasn’t expected,” Paton said.

“I’m just delighted to be able to leave with the three points.

“If I’m being honest, I’m a bit disappointed that things ended as they did during my time with Thistle and that I don’t have a better rapport with the fans.

“You move on in life and I took the decision to move on and that was best for me and my daughter at the time. I don’t care what anyone says quite frankly.

“I just came here for the points and that’s what I left with.”

From the moment that central defender Anderson somewhat incongruously appeared at the back post to volley home a deep Swanson cross to give St Johnstone the lead midway through the first half, that was never really in doubt.

Alan Archibald’s men huffed and puffed and saw plenty of the ball, but they didn’t have an answer to the organisation and hard work of Tommy Wright’s well-drilled unit. Too often they were slow in moving the ball or made the wrong decision in attacking areas, while St Johnstone ruthlessly exploited the slackness of substitute Ryan Edwards’ wayward pass just after the hour to wrap up the points in stunning fashion.

The last man Edwards would have wanted to see latch onto his mistake was Swanson, but the magic this time was in the boots of MacLean who received the ball from his teammate 25 yards from goal. The striker set himself and curled a stunning effort into the top corner, and that, as they say, was that.

“I felt with the shape we had, we would be really difficult to break down and there was a real togetherness,” Paton said.

“You felt that the boys were going to run hard for each other, make tackles and fight for each other.”

The fact that this third defeat in succession leaves Thistle bottom of the pile at this early stage will be hard enough to take, but the tin lid was put on a disappointing afternoon for them with the prospect that goalkeeper Tomas Cerny may again be sidelined with a recurrence of the ankle problem that had kept him out of the League Cup group stages in the summer.

Back-up goalkeeper Ryan Scully had little more to do after coming on than admire MacLean’s strike as it flew past him and into the net, but if he is to now have a run in the side, he hopes it will be as part of a more robust unit than he stood behind on Saturday.

Thistle have won admirers for their attractive style of play, but the pragmatic Scully thinks that they may have to take a leaf out of St Johnstone’s book if they are to get their season back on track.

“The league table doesn’t look pretty as it stands but we know a couple of wins can see us going straight back up again," Scully said. "We’ll set ourselves again this week to go for the three points on Saturday.

“Sometimes you need to do the dirty side of football and earn the right to win. St Johnstone are a good example of that. I wouldn’t say they are the prettiest to watch but they are in the top six every year.

“We’re a good footballing team and we want to stick to that but if there are a few games when we need to mix it up we’ll do that. Otherwise you are too predictable and teams can capitalise on that.”