THERE may be another chapter to write yet in the Steven Thompson St Mirren story.

Already it reads like something out of Roy of the Rovers; veteran striker joins boyhood heroes at end of career and helps them win trophy by scoring in semi-final and final. The stakes are just as high this time around but for rather less glamorous reasons. St Mirren are immersed slap bang in the middle of a scrap to avoid relegation, currently occupying the play-off spot but only off the bottom on goal difference and only not in the safety of tenth place on goals scored. With 10 games remaining, it could not be tighter.

Not all St Mirren's woes this season can be linked to Thompson's persistent injury problems but it is certainly more than a mere coincidence. In his first three seasons, the former Dundee United and Rangers man pillaged 16 goals each year, making him by some distance the club's top scorer. Sidelined this year by a nagging groin problem that required surgery, his replacements have proved themselves to be not up to the mark. Following Kenny McLean's January departure to Aberdeen, St Mirren's joint-leading scorers in the league this season have a massive two goals each. On Saturday, Thompson staked a belated claim to that title for a fourth successive season by registering his first goal of an otherwise forgettable year. It would prove an important strike, the forward redirecting a cross from James Dayton to help St Mirren to their first home league win of the season. Little wonder, then, that the prospect of a fit Thompson for the run-in is something that imbues manager Gary Teale with a degree of optimism.

"It's all about managing him," said Teale. "We left him out at Aberdeen but brought him back today and there aren't many better at getting in front of markers - as he showed today."

There is little doubt that Thompson's presence will be at the heart of any late-season St Mirren revival. A dominant personality in the dressing room, he personally will ensure there will be no players slacking off in the remaining games, even if the season goes all the way to the play-off final on May 31. It is his abilities as a striker, however, that St Mirren will be most counting on. Thompson has clearly read some of the obituaries on his playing career and clearly believes them to be premature. He bristled on Saturday evening at a perceived "ageism" in football that states that most players have passed their sell-by date once they reach 35 but the most effective way to answer any criticism will be to score the goals that keep St Mirren up. His team-mates clearly believe him capable.

"He is the perfect target man to hit," revealed Dayton. "He handled both of their centre halves. It was two against one but he coped with both of them. He is great in the air but also has good feet for a big man."

Thompson triumphed on Saturday thanks largely to a productive supporting cast. Dayton was lively on the right wing - so much so that Hamilton's Darian Mackinnon at one point "picked me up with both legs like a wheelbarrow" - while debutants Alan Gow and substitute Kieran Sadlier also impressed. Hamilton were poor as they slumped tamely to a ninth successive game without a win but that should not take away from the energy of the St Mirren performance. If there were regrets they would have been that they did not score more and that all their relegation rivals won as well.

Not that Dayton was any the wiser. It remains one of football's most peculiar traits that, rather than arming themselves with the full facts, managers and players tend to shy away from analysing the bigger picture, choosing instead to "just concentrate on ourselves". The on-loan Oldham Athletic winger claimed not to know where St Mirren were in the table but was at least aware they are not challenging for the title.

"I don't look at the table," he added. "That's just how I am. I just like to play the games and put in good performances. If we perform as a team we give ourselves a chance of retaining our Premiership status."

Hamilton's top-flight status was assured by Christmas which perhaps partially explains the sudden downturn in productivity in 2015. The loss of manager Alex Neil and leading striker Tony Andreu to Norwich City is a more measureable factor in their decline, although the loss of Neil as a player was also held up as significant.

"I think people underestimated what we lost in Alex," said forward Dougie Imrie. "His all-round attributes and game intelligence ...you probably wouldn't get better in the league - and I'd say that about Celtic as well."