YOU can always be guaranteed a taste of the jet set in Paisley.

What about a visit to Paisley Abbey, a splash in the Lagoon swimming pool or enjoy a swally in one of the 400 pubs listed on the top things to do in the town on Trip Advisor? If not, you can also visit St Mirren Park on a Saturday and watch aeroplane after aeroplane cruise majestically overhead as lucky punters from nearby Glasgow Airport head off to such exotic locations like Mauritius, the Bahamas, Dubai and Cardiff.

For those not so fortunate who basked in the sunshine below for the meeting of St Mirren and Kilmarnock yesterday, they could be forgiven for seeing the constant stream of Boeing 747s in the blue skies above joined by the sight of a giant pig gracefully soaring into the sky, frantically flapping his wee trotters as he went. It would have been the second most astonishing sight behind the team in black in white in front of them not only winning, but scoring four goals in the process. That's right, four. Jings, crivens.

If you think I'm being harsh, here's the back story to this one. Gary Teale's team were grounded at the foot of the SPFL Premiership table going into their fifth last game of a horrendous campaign. Ten points adrift of Motherwell, St Mirren had lost their previous five games on the spin, scoring no goals and letting in 13. That was before Peppa flew by, of course.

First-half goals from the unlikely sources of Sean Kelly and Kieran Sadlier - his first for the top team - put the men from Paisley in a commanding position, only for Josh Magennis to claw one back seven minutes into the second half. It was only a brief inconvenience as Steven Thompson restored the two-goal margin from the spot moments later before grabbing another with 25 to play.

It was no more than the home side deserved as they performed with a freedom only a team with little to play for could adopt. There are optimists who will say the now seven-point gap between them and Motherwell is bridgeable. They may be right, but the immediate focus should be on a performance, and more importantly a victory, which will breathe some light relief into a team that has badly choked under the pressure of relegation in recent weeks.

"We were never going to throw in the towel and we will always keep believing. Mathematically, we've still got a chance," said Teale, whose team could have quite easily doubled their tally. "Everybody has written us off, so there's an opportunity for them now. We'd lost the last three or four in a row, so we had nothing to lose and it was an opportunity to see how they would perform."

The St Mirren manager's team selection raised a few eyebrows pre-match as five changes were made. Jack Baird, Jeroen Tesselaar, Thomas Reilly, James Dayton and Kieran Sadlier were all introduced as Jim Goodwin and Viktor Genev were suspended, Yoann Arquin was dropped to the bench, John McGinn was injured and Marc McAusland left the club two weeks ago. There was no need for any concern. This was as a commanding and one-sided a game as, well, any other the St Mirren fans have had to endure over the last couple of weeks. Only this time the shoe was firmly on the other foot.

Their first was a lesson in capitalising on your opponents' mistake and fine finishing. A corner was poorly cleared by Kilmarnock and as Nathan Eccleston attempted a pass back to goalkeeper Craig Samson, St Mirren centre-half Kelly pounced on the ball's lack of pace to stride purposefully into the box and drill it low across Samson and into the bottom corner after just six minutes.

Twelve minutes before the break it was two. A neat chip over the defence by Thompson was brought down by Dayton. The ex-Kilmarnock winger played a neat lay off to the inrushing Jason Naismith to fire at goal which Samson parried, but only as far as the unmarked Sadlier to nod into an unguarded net.

Magennis' neat half volley from the edge of the area caused a few bums to start twitching in the largely three-quarters empty stands in St Mirren Park, but only for four minutes.

A Stevie Mallan free-kick cannoned off the wall just inside the Kilmarnock penalty box, but referee Kevin Clancy claimed it struck the hand of Alexei Eremenko and pointed to the spot, allowing Thompson to send Samson the wrong way for his 50th goal for the battling Buddies.

On 65 minutes he completed his brace from the penalty spot again. This time awarded for a poor Manuel Pascali challenge on Dayton, the veteran forward calmly passed the ball into the corner of the net. Kilmarnock's keeper didn't even move as their supporters up the other end began to walk out.

"It's not good enough," said Gary Locke, the Kilmarnock manager. When asked does he fear being dragged into a relegation fight, he replied: "Without a doubt. We've got four cup finals left and I've said all along that the players have to show me that they want to remain at the club and put in really good performances."

Five straight defeats for the Rugby Park club is a worrying statistic for the Rugby Park club. Seven points may divide them from play-off favourites Motherwell, but as free-scoring St Mirren proved yesterday, anything is impossible.

ST MIRREN: Ridgers; Naismith, Baird, Kelly, Tesselaar; Dayton (Brown 76), Mallan, Reilly (Cuddihy 87), Sadlier, Wylde; Thompson (Gow 79)

UNUSED SUBS: Kello, Arquin, Sonupe, Morgan

SCORERS: Kelly 8, Sadlier 33, Thompson 57 (pen), 65 (pen)

BOOKINGS: Mallan

KILMARNOCK: Samson; O'Hara, Ashcroft, Pascali, Barbour; Johnston, Clingan, Slater (Eremenko 45), Obadeyi (McKenzie 70), Magennis, Eccleston (Miller 28)

UNUSED SUBS: Brennan, Cairney, Syme, Kiltie

SCORERS: Magennis 53

BOOKINGS: O'Hara, Pascali, Eremenko

REFEREE: Kevin Clancy

ATTENDANCE: 3205

MAN OF THE MATCH: Steven Thompson