The most delicate touch was also the most devastating.

Danny Racchi inflicted the decisive blow for Kilmarnock with a chip of such exquisite judgment and poise that even the gracefulness of the finish must have been agonising for St Mirren. The game was decided in the 90th minute, and the lateness of the goal only exacerbated the visitors' suffering.

They had cause to bemoan Kilmarnock's winning strike, for robbing them of a point but also exposing their own shortcomings. They were the dominant side for much of the first half and remained the more enterprising after the interval, yet the lack of a cutting edge became a glaring drawback.

"We've got to be more ruthless," said Danny Lennon, the St Mirren manager. "There had been a lot of talk in the papers last week about Kilmarnock being the Rolls Royce of passing sides, but we came out like a Ferrari in the opening 30 minutes, yet we didn't capitalise on our goal. We've done well in terms of performances this season, but we deserve more points."

Kilmarnock were immediately woebegone. In his lacklustre style and ambivalent presence, Mohamadou Sissoko was symbolic of his team's slipshod approach, while in the same way, the nimble, artful scurrying of Paul McGowan was central to St Mirren's ambition.

The attacking midfielder dashed beyond the cumbersome Sissoko and only a slip as he tried to position himself to shoot spared the home side. The ball was cleared for a corner, which Graham Carey delivered and Marc McAusland met with a firm volley that smacked off the crossbar. Another corner was conceded from the rebound, and this time Carey's cross was met by Lee Mair, who headed past Cameron Bell.

As St Mirren celebrated, an irate Manuel Pascali berated Sissoko, his partner at centre-back, for not defending more resolutely. "We worked on corners all Sunday morning at training, but people didn't pick up," groaned the Kilmarnock manager, Kenny Shiels.

For all their dedication to playing a cultured, passing game, St Mirren lack the cold-heartedness to trounce opponents. Kenny McLean strained to try to reach Steven Thompson's cross with his head, but the ball passed him by. The visitors were comfortable in possession, but did not prey on Kilmarnock's unease. It was Shiels who proved to be more merciless.

He sees himself as a keen strategist and he withdrew Alex Pursehouse to bring on Zdenek Kroca after just 32 minutes. The Czech defender might have been anticipated to bring a steely edge to the backline, having been the player who tackled Gary Harkins in training during the weekend, when the midfielder broke his ankle.

Yet it was moving Pascali into midfield that brought the progress Shiels had envisioned. The Italian can be overcome by a fiery temperament but his hustle and endeavour is invigorating. Moments after the substitution, Pascali broke up play in midfield then delivered a quick pass upfield to Paul Heffernan. The striker laid the ball off to Dean Shiels, whose shot was tipped wide by the diving Craig Samson.

"St Mirren gave us a football lesson until I made the change," the Kilmarnock manager said. "All I can do is apologise, because the pitch was the winner. We were bereft of quality and the pitch had a big influence in that."

Kilmarnock ought to have been revived by the briskness of the counter-attack, and its effectiveness, but the move was also immediately rewarding. The resulting corner saw the ball bobble around the penalty area before Heffernan, with the sharpest of reactions, turned it beyond Samson.

The visitors were not unsettled by Kilmarnock's resurgence, and Thompson was certain he was the victim of a foul when knocked over in mid-air inside the penalty area by Liam Kelly. Bobby Madden, the referee, ruled instead that the collision had been accidental. "Big decisions have cost us this season, and that's very disappointing," said Lennon.

The home side's newly-roused spirit was confirmed by Sissoko's elaborate trick in the centre of the pitch during another passage of play in the second half. It was in keeping with the defender's occasionally hapless display, though, that he managed to confuse himself as well as his opponent, and lost the ball.

The contest had become finely balanced and in all the striving, play inevitably became restless and frantic, until the final minute, when Bell's punt reached Racchi 20 yards from goal. "I was going to curl it but I was closed down," he said. "So the chip was the only option."