St Mirren struck late through Ilkay Durmus to grab an important three points in the Ladbrokes Premiership as the Buddies came from behind to defeat Motherwell at Fir Park.
Liam Donnelly opened the scoring early on from the penalty spot, but second-half goals from Jon Obika and Durmus saw the Saints take all three points back to Paisley.
The home side started the brighter with on-loan winger Rolando Aarons caused the Buddies problems down the right side. Aarons had the first real opportunity of the match when he smashed wide after finding space inside the box on seven minutes.
And it was the winger's trickery that would see Motherwell win a penalty on 12 minutes after being was brought down by Akin Famewo inside the area after trying to break clear. Referee David Munro pointed to the spot and Liam Donnelly, who missed during last week's penalty shoot-out, made no mistake from 12 yards to give the home side the lead.
Saints almost found an instant response less than two minutes later. Good work from Jamie McGrath in the midfield saw the Irishman switch it wide to Durmus. The left-winger burst into the Motherwell area and fizzed a powerful, dipping drive just inches over the bar.
Vaclav Hladky was called into action on 18 minutes as he made a brilliant double save to keep the scoreline down. Motherwell were awarded a free-kick on the right hand touchline after Calum Waters was booked for a foul on Aarons. 'Well swung the ball into the back post where it met the head of Declan Gallagher with Hladky down low to push away. The danger wasn't cleared though allowing Tony Watt an opportunity with the Czech goalkeeper blocking from close range.
A couple of dangerous looking balls across the box from Durmus caused panic inside the Motherwell box and yielded a couple of corners but the Saints failed to capitalise from any of them.
It was still the home side who were creating more clear cut chances in the first-half with Hladky having to do well to save from Watt, before a long-range Liam Polworth drive looked like it may have nestled in the back of the net after a wicked deflection.
A disappointing first-half came to a close with Motherwell only having one goal to show for their efforts.
Saints showed more intent after the break and found themselves level on 50 minutes. Lee Hodson did brilliantly well on the right-hand side to turn the Motherwell defence inside out before sending a tremendous low ball across the face of goal where Obika finished from close range.
The Buddies almost doubled their lead a few minutes later with Motherwell goalkeeper Mark Gillespie making a terrific diving save to claw away Durmus' low drive from 20 yards.
For all the opportunities Motherwell created in the first 45 minutes, they failed to create anything to really trouble Hladky in the second-half with only a Watt header with less than 10 minutes to go forcing the goalkeeper to make a save and even then it was straight at him.
With 87 minutes on the clock Saints would finish a winner with Durmus showing great composure to put St Mirren into the lead. Substitute Tony Andreu swung the ball into the box where it drifted to the left side to meet an unmarked Durmus. The Turkish winger took a touch to steady himself before slamming high into the top corner to send the 600 strong travelling support wild.
Junior Morias could have added the icing on the cake in the dying embers as he shot wide from 15 yards, but in the end it didn't matter as Durmus' strike sealed a first league win of 2020 for Jim Goodwin's men who closed the gap on ninth placed Ross County to four points.
Full-Time: Motherwell 1-2 St Mirren
St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy, Famewo, Waters, McGrath (Wallace 75), MacPherson, Foley, Durmus, Jakubiak (Andreu 71), Obika (Morias 90)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, K.McAllister, Mullen, Chabbi
Motherwell: Gillespie, Tait, Hartley, Gallagher, Donnelly, Campbell (Turnbull 71), O'Hara (MacIver 56), Polworth, Aarons, Hylton (Seedorf 83), Watt
Subs Not Used: Carson, Grimshaw, Mugabi, Ilic
Referee: David Munro
Assistant Referee: David Roome
Assistant Referee: Stuart Hodge
Fourth Official: David Dickinson
Attendance: 3,636 (601 St Mirren fans)
Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography
