St Mirren picked up their first points on the road this season with a well-deserved win over Hamilton Academical at the FOYS Stadium.
Cammy MacPherson's first goal of the season was enough to give Saints all three points in a dominant performance that sees the Buddies move off the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership and up to ninth place.
Jim Goodwin made four changes from the side that lost 3-0 to Motherwell on Wednesday night with MacPherson, Kyle McAllister, Ilkay Durmus and Junior Morias coming in for Gary MacKenzie, Stephen McGinn, Tony Andreu and Danny Mullen as Saints lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Paul McGinn partnering Sean McLoughlin at centre-half and Ryan Flynn moved to right-back.
The Buddies started brightly and almost had the lead with just five minutes played. Jon Obika fed the ball wide to Ilkay Durmus whose half-volley was touched onto the post by Hamilton goalkeeper Luke Southwood.
While the visitors had been on top in the opening stages, Hamilton grew into the first-half and Saints had stand-in skipper Kyle Magennis to thank for keeping the Accies from taking the lead on 14 minutes. The midfielder, who made his 100th St Mirren appearance on Wednesday night, made a vital goal-saving interception to deny the waiting Steve Davies who would surely have tapped home from close range.
There wasn't much to separate the teams 30 minutes in but the Buddies finished the half strongly. Obika flashed an effort just wide from 20 yards on 34 minutes before Durmus slammed a shot into the side-netting two minutes later.
Saints could have been ahead within 15 seconds of the restart when Morias hit the post. Accies had taken kick-off but St Mirren had won the ball almost immediately with MacPherson sending a long ball down the middle that Morias ran on to. The forward brought it down on his chest as he made his way into the box, but flicked onto the post.
Saints hit the woodwork once again just a few minutes later when MacPherson's free-kick from the left cracked off the Hamilton crossbar.
That only delayed the inevitable with Saints breaking the deadlock 60 seconds later through that man MacPherson. Accies defender Scott McMann could only head a Magennis ball into the box as far as the edge of the area where MacPherson ran onto it and smashed low into the bottom corner to the delight of the more than 800 away crowd behind the goal.
The Buddies could have added a second just before the hour mark but for goalkeeper Southwood. Morias' cut-back was missed by MacPherson but fell kindly to Durmus in space inside the box, but the Hamilton keeper did well to block the Turkish winger's effort with his feet.
Jim Goodwin made his first change on 66 minutes when Cody Cooke made his return to action following a long lay-off with injury as he replaced Kyle McAllister. And the English forward almost netted just a few minutes after his introduction. Cooke picked the ball up deep in the Accies half and drove toward goal. He had Obika in space to his right but elected to go alone and forced a good save from Southwood with a rasper from 20 yards.
With 13 minutes remaining Obika looked to send Cooke clear on goal and the striker would have been one-on-one had he not been fouled by Accies defender Alex Gogic. Referee Don Robertson showed no hesitation in brandishing a red card to Gogic for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
10-man Hamilton looked to put pressure on Saints in the closing stages but could only muster a David Moyo header that was fairly routine for Hladky.
That summed up what was a comfortable day for the Buddies who more than deserved their first win on the road this season.
Full-Time: Hamilton 0-1 St Mirren
St Mirren: Hladky, Flynn, P.McGinn (Andreu 82), McLoughlin, Waters, K.McAllister (Cooke 66), Magennis (S.McGinn 75), MacPherson, Durmus, Morias, Obika
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Henderson, Djorkaeff, Mullen
Hamilton: Southwood, McGowan, Gogic, Stubbs, Easton, Smith, McMann, Hunt (Martin 56), Miller, Davies (Moyo 61), Ogkmpoe (Oakley 56)
Subs Not Used: Fon Williams, Collar, Beck, Hamilton
Referee: Don Robertson
Assistant Referee: David Doig
Assistant Referee: Paul O'Neill
Fourth Official: Kevin Graham
Attendance: 1,962 (839 St Mirren fans)
Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography
