A dramatic day in Paisley saw Saints suffer late agony as they were beaten 1-0 by Aberdeen.
Saints threatened in the opening seconds, Keanu Baccus' shot being blocked by the legs of Dons keeper Dimitar Mitov, Killian Phillips heading over towards the end of the half.
As the hour mark approached, Alex Gogic thought he'd marked his 150th Saints appearance with a goal only for VAR to eventually rule his header out for a foul in the build-up. The visitors should have been in front soon after but Shamal George saved Stuart Armstrong's effort and Alexander Jensen couldn't find the net from the rebound.
VAR was involved gain late on, with Saints' Jayden Richardson being sent off against his old club for violent conduct after being initially booked in the aftermath of being fouled by Ante Palaversa. It looked as if Saints would hold on for a point but deep into the seven minutes of added time, Marko Lazetic produced a moment of magic to fire Aberdeen to their first league win in Paisley since 2018.
It was a much changed Saints side, with Mark O'Hara and Marcus Fraser returning from injury and Keanu Baccus also back in the team, Dan Nlundulu making his first start up front. Shamal George had recovered enough from illness to start in goal with Richard King, Liam Donnelly, Roland Idowu and Jonah Ayunga dropping to the bench. Aberdeen made just one change to the side which hammered Dundee before the international break, Gavin Molloy replacing the injured Emmanuel Gyamfi.
Saints made a flying start and could have been ahead after a couple of minutes, Mikael Mandron heading Mark O'Hara's cross down for Keanu Baccus but Dimitar Mitov blocked the shot with his legs. Aberdeen responded quickly, Ail Aouchiche firing just over, as the game began at a frantic pace.
It was end to end stuff but chances were at a premium - Mitov saving easily from Mandron as Saints tried to hit the visitors on the break before Shamal George gathered Nicky Devlin's effort. As half-time neared, a well worked free-kick routine from Saints ended with the unchallenged Phillips heading over against his former club.
Jesper Karlsson should have done better than curl a shot over the bar at the end of some nice Aberdeen play early in the second half. A few minutes later Saints thought they'd taken the lead, some tremendous skill from Baccus winning him the space to float in a cross for Alex Gogic to nod home. However, no goal is ever certain these days and, after a delay, ref Lloyd Wilson was called to the monitor and ruled the goal out. It initially seemed to have been ruled out for offside although the suggestion later was Mitov had been fouled by Dan Nlundulu.
Alex Gogic's goal was disallowed (Image: Allan Picken)
That decision seemed to fire Saints up but Aberdeen should have taken the lead soon after, George producing a great save to deny Stuart Armstrong before Alexander Jensen somehow failed to hit the target with the rebound. As the game entered the last 10 minutes, Jayden Richardson tried to burst down the right and was pulled back by Ante Palaversa. Like a cartoon fight, limbs seemed to go everywhere after that as both players went flying and were booked for their troubles, Armstrong also cautioned for his involvement in the scuffle that followed. For the second time in the afternoon, VAR intervened and Richardson got the worst kind of upgrade as his yellow become a red for violent conduct, George being booked for dissent into the bargain.
The man advantage and seven minutes of added time created the perfect scenario for Aberdeen to end their Paisley hoodoo. Saints were able to see out the first six minutes of stoppage time before Marko Lazetic got the better of his man at the byline and fired a shot across George into the far corner to give the visitors all three points.
Full-Time: St Mirren 0-1 Aberdeen
St Mirren: George, Fraser, Gogic, Freckleton, Richardson, Phillips, Baccus, O'Hara (c) (Idowu 67), John (Tanser 90), Nlundulu (Ayunga 68), Mandron (McMenamin 88)
Subs Not Used: Mullen, Tanser, King, Donnelly, Dijksteel, Calvin
Aberdeen: Mitov, Jensen, Devlin, Knoester, Milne, Molloy (Dorrington 78), Shinnie (c) (Polvara 69), Armstrong, Aouchiche (Palaversa 69), Karlsson (Keskinen 69), Nisbet (Lazetic 63)
Subs Not Used: Suman, Clarkson, Milanovic, Kjartansson
Referee: Lloyd Wilson
AR1: Frank Connor
AR2: Sean Duff
VAR: Kevin Clancy
Attendance: 7,333
