St Mirren made it two wins from two in the William Hill Premiership and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to seven matches.
Killian Phillips' first-half goal was the difference as Stephen Robinson's men moved into third place in the William Hill Premiership.
The manager was forced into two changes from the side that defeated Kilmarnock on penalties in the Premier Sports Cup last week. Captain Mark O'Hara and Keanu Baccus missed out with injury so Liam Donnelly came in for his first Saints start, while Roland Idowu was in from the beginning.
The day started with a minute's applause to pay our respects to Saints legend Jimmy Bone who sadly passed away at the age of 75 earlier this month.
A scrappy start at the rain-soaked SMiSA Stadium saw the Buddies with the majority of possession in the opening stages but they only had a long-range strike from Idowu that flew over to show for it.
Drey Wright forced a good save from Shamal George on 18 minutes with a fierce strike from the edge of the area that was pushed wide by the Saints stopper.
Alex Gogic, who had taken the captain's armband, had the Buddies' best early opportunity on 22 minutes. Killian Phillips' throw-in bobbed about before falling to Idowu who forced it back to Gogic on the edge of the area. The Cypriot defender got a lot of power behind the effort, but Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken was able to hold the low shot.
Saints started to take more of a grip on the match and came close to finding the opener twice inside the space of a minute. Jonah Ayunga forced a good save from McCracken who was at full-stretch to turn away the forward's shot from 20 yards. A minute later, Ayunga again got in behind the Dee defence. This time he rolled it back to Idowu who curled agonisingly wide of the far post from the edge of the box.
The deadlock was broken six minutes before the break with Killian Phillips netting his fifth goal of the season. The Irishman was on hand to turn home from six yards as he got the final touch on Mandron's strike to score his first league goal of 2025/26.
There was little to report in the opening 15 minutes after the restart. Ethan Hamilton's vicious strike was However, Saints could have added a second just after the hour mark when a good switch from Freckleton found Richardson down the right-hand side. The wing-back played a dangerous low ball across the face, but no one in black and white could get on the end of it.
The manager made his first change of the game on 68 minutes when Saints youth academy graduate Fraser Taylor was introduced in place of Donnelly. That was followed by the double substitution of Conor McMenamin and Dan Nlundulu who replaced Idowu and Ayunga on 75 minutes.
The game was fizzling out, but with 1-0 a precarious lead Saints were searching for a second to kill it off and nearly did so heading into stoppage time. Phillips stole the ball off a Dundee defender deep in the Dee half and drove forward before cracking a shot just wide of the mark from 20 yards. Dundee would try to force pressure with some late corners, but the Saints defence stood strong to ensure a clean sheet and three points.
Full-Time: St Mirren 1-0 Dundee
St Mirren: George, King, Gogic (c), Freckleton, Richardson, Phillips, Donnelly (Taylor 68), Idowu (McMenamin 75), John (Tanser 86), Ayunga (Nlundulu 75), Mandron
Subs Not Used: Mullen, Calvin, Dijksteel, Sobowale, Mooney
Dundee: McCracken, Wright (Yogane 83), Astley, C. Robertson (c), Graham (Koumetio 83), Congreve, F.Robertson (Jones 89), Hamilton, Samuels, Hay (Acquah 75), Westley
Subs Not Used: O'Hara, Ingram, Donnelly, Galabov, Reilly
Referee: Matthew MacDermid
AR1: Gordon Crawford
AR2: Craig Ferguson
Fourth Official: Alastair Grieve
VAR: Calum Scott
Attendance: 6,382
