St Mirren began 2023 with a hard-earned point away to Kilmarnock with Saints having to play over 85 minutes with 10 men following Ethan Erhahon early red card.
Stephen Robinson's men battled throughout the 90 minutes and were well worthy of at least a point that in front of a travelling support of almost 1500 Buddies.
The manager was forced into two changes from the side that started in Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Livingston. Mark O'Hara missed out through suspension, while Jonah Ayunga was ruled out due to a knock. That meant Greg Kiltie and Eamonn Brophy came into the starting eleven.
Saints were up against it early on with Erhahon shown a straight red card on seven minutes after catching Rory McKenzie on the face with his arm. The manager made a change in response to going down to 10 men with Alex Gogic coming on in place of Brophy.
Despite playing with a man less the Buddies were coping well and had the first real opportunity of the match with Curtis Main firing wide on 21 minutes after a neat passage of play.
Trevor Carson was called into action for the first time just before the half hour mark when he made a terrific save to turn Blair Alston's effort round the post. A minute later Saints weren't too far away with Keanu Baccus flashing a volley wide from 20 yards.
Saints fought away well in the opening 10 minutes of the second 45 with Kilmarnock goalkeeper Sam Walker blocking well with his feet to turn away Ryan Strain's low ball in from the right. A minute later Baccus passed up a big opportunity after being found by Main in the middle of the Killie box, but he got the shot wrong and sclaffed wide.
The game was very much in the balance and Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes responded by bringing on ex-Saint Jordan Jones in place of Blair Alston on 63 minutes.
The home side were seeing more of the ball as they looked to capitalise on the man advantage but Carson was relatively untested heading into the final 15 minutes. Stephen Robinson brought Ryan Flynn on for Kiltie on 78 minutes.
Carson was called into action with less than 10 minutes remaining with the Northern Ireland international making a brilliant two-handed save to push Christian Doidge's header over the bar from point blank range.
Trevor Carson made a point-blank save to deny Christian Doidge (Image: David Henderson)
Another two changes were made with Joe Shaughnessy and Alex Greive entering the fray for Saints on 84 minutes and heading into the final moments it was the latter who could have won it for the Buddies. Scott Tanser's corner was cleared but Marcus Fraser got the ball back into the area where it found substitute Alex Greive, but the New Zealand forward blazed inches over the bar.
Full-Time: Kilmarnock 0-0 St Mirren
St Mirren: Carson, Fraser (c), Gallagher, Dunne, Strain (Shaughnessy 84), Baccus, Kiltie (Flynn 78), Erhahon, Tanser, Brophy (Gogic 15), Main (Greive 84)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, R.Taylor, Reid, F.Taylor, Olusanya
Kilmarnock: Walker, Mayo, A.Taylor (c), Wright (Murray 75), Chrisene, Armstrong, Alston (Jones 63), Polworth, McKenzie, Robinson (Shaw 90), Doidge
Subs Not Used: Hemming, Stokes, Waters, McInroy, Lyons, Wales
Referee: Grant Irvine
Assistant Referee: Drew Kirkland
Assistant Referee: Andy Milne
Fourth Official: Stewart Luke
VAR: Gavin Duncan
Assistant VAR: Gary Hilland
Attendance: 7,008 (1,476 St Mirren supporters)
