Partick Thistle 0-1 St Mirren

James Dayton scored early on his debut as St Mirren held on for a precious Premiership victory at Firhill.

The on-loan Oldham winger shot the visitors ahead on six minutes and Gary Teale's men were seldom troubled as they doggedly defended their lead.

In a dreadfully scrappy game, Partick Thistle dominated possession but lacked the imagination to break down opponents who were happy to sit deep.

The win lifts St Mirren above Motherwell to 10th spot in the table.

The Paisley side are now one point clear of the play-off place and seven better off than bottom side Ross County, although the teams below them have games in hand.

It is the second time St Mirren have won in the west end of Glasgow this season and this success was built on a solid performance from the back four, keeping their first clean sheet of the campaign.

The visitors, with captain Steven Thompson back after hernia surgery to lead the attack, started strongly, winning a couple of corners.

And from the second of those set-pieces the Buddies went ahead as a defensive header fell to Dayton in the penalty box and his scuffed shot from 16 yards found the bottom corner of the net.

Stung by the early goal, the home side began to dictate play, without creating too many clear openings.

The scores should have been level when Callum Booth, making his first Jags appearance after a loan switch from Hibs, delivered a fantastic curling cross from the left. Ryan Stevenson just had to get a touch right in front of goal but was a fraction out with the timing of his attempted header.

St Mirren kept a clean sheet for the first time in 31 matches

Kallum Higginbotham gathered the loose ball to tee up Stephen O'Donnell and the full-back's thumping strike was pushed away by Mark Ridgers.

St Mirren immediately launched a counter-attack, with full-back Jeroen Tesselaar carrying the ball all the way to the edge of the opponents' penalty area before laying it off for Kenny McLean to drag a shot wide.

Thistle were pressing again early in the second half but Ridgers had no trouble dealing with weak efforts from Steven Lawless and Higginbotham, while O'Donnell and Stevenson lashed efforts off target.

Alan Archibald's team had scored seven in their previous two outings but gave their support nothing to cheer in the final half hour as St Mirren central defenders Jim Goodwin and Marc McAusland coped comfortably with a succession of high, hopeful balls.

The visitors threatened from a late corner as Stevie Mallan's delivery was allowed to land in a busy penalty area and bounced an inch over so over the head of McAusland, with the home defence posted missing, but it had rarely looked like a second goal was necessary.