Morton 1 - 4 St Mirren: Saints revival continues

St Mirren moved out of the bottom two in the Championship for the first time since week two of the season thanks to a comprehensive 4-1 success at the home of neighbours Morton.

St Mirrens John Sutton, right, celebrates his goal against Dunfermline with Gary Irvine. Picture: SNS.

The Paisley side’s win also has implications at the top of the table as the title will belong to Hibs if they beat Queen of the South on Saturday and Falkirk fail to see off Jack Ross’s side.

Cappielow was at its atmospheric best at kick-off in front of more than 4,600 fans and both sets of players responded with corners forced at both ends in the first two minutes.

The frantic pace and end-to-end action continued with the Saints coming within inches of scoring on 18 minutes when Rory Loy robbed Michael Doyle and fired across goal with Cammy Smith and John Sutton both just failing to 
connect.

Within a minute, the hosts looked set to net when Andy Murdoch wriggled clear and it took the legs of visiting goalkeeper Billy O’Brien to keep out his effort.

Before anyone could draw breath St Mirren scored when Stephen Mallan picked out Stelios Demetriou 20 yards from goal and the Cypriot defender advanced forward a couple of yards before drilling a low shot home.

Morton drew level on 29 minutes when Doyle charged deep down the right wing before picking out Andy Murdoch with a cutback and the midfielder side-footed home.

The hosts should have been in front three minutes later when Lawrence Shankland was presented with a chance four yards out, but Jack Baird managed to block.

Following a Morton corner Demetriou charged forward again just before the break and only a last-gasp sliding Doyle block denied the Saint a second goal.

The second half started off in explosive fashion with 
St Mirren getting their noses in front within 60 seconds when the ball was worked along the Morton box where it fell to Mallan and he sent a fierce drive flashing past Derek Gaston.

It was 3-1 on 56 minutes when Loy got free on the left and this time his cross was perfect for Sutton to slide home.

Morton looked to hit back and O’Brien kept out a Gary Oliver header on his line with Ross Forbes curling a free-kick wide from a good 
position.

However, it was the visitors who netted their fourth goal ten minutes from full-time with a simply-executed strike when Mallan floated over a corner and Gary MacKenzie nodded in .