St Mirren retained their outside chance of attaining a European place with Mikael Mandron's second-half volley meaning Aberdeen fell three points adrift of Hibernian in the race to finish third.

The home side had to win to preserve their Euro ambitions and did so thanks to striker Mandron, whose winner followed agreement on a contract extension for a further year.

Jimmy Thelin's side thought they had netted a first-half opener when Jeppe Okkels pounced to net but the award was overturned for a debatable handball decision against Kevin Nisbet in the build-up.

The Pittodrie side now lie three points adrift of Hibs with three games to play with Stephen Robinson's side still facing an eight-point deficit to Aberdeen to land a ticket to Europe.

The visitors started brightly, forcing a series of corners before the Dons' Leighton Clarkson fired narrowly off target.

As St Mirren grew into the game, it seemed the visitors had secured a crucial advantage when Okkels found incredible space to net from close range.

Referee Ross Hardie awarded the goal but was brought for review with Nisbet judged to have handled with his arm in an unnatural position. The debate centred on whether that was the result of contact from Alex Gogic.

The home side took heart from that let-off and had chances, with Jonah Ayunga and Mark O'Hara both going close.

The breakthrough was an excellent finish from Mandron. He took the ball down with his chest and controlled his volley but, in truth, was afforded too much space in such a dangerous area.

Aberdeen failed to respond with impact, with Zach Hemming rarely tested directly. They created pressure in the final third as the game wore on but could not get enough on target to take something.

It was St Mirren on the break who ought to have sealed it in injury time but substitute Roland Idowu was superbly denied by Dimitar Mitov.

You just can't keep this St Mirren side down. Achieving top six alievated any pressure and they have more than taken the chance to express themselves to great effect.

This win backs up the point at home against Rangers. Four post-split points is a great return so far and a great platform to go further. They seem to be enjoying the challenge and are finishing the season on a real high.

On the unveiling of an extra year for striker Mandron, he said there was more to come from him.

It's instant payback and sets up Robinson's side for a genuine challenge for fifth place, with Europe remaining achievable.

Aberdeen had taken on the fight for third with a bit of momentum building ahead of this fixture. Being unbeaten since the end of February until this defeat showed a level of consistency, but this outcome is a real blow.

They've lost crucial ground on Hibs and face a trip to Ibrox next before hosting Celtic. Anything from those games in normal circumstances would be deemed a positive but may well be required now with games running out.

The disallowed effort for handball against Nisbet will be a major talking point. It was given for his arm being in an unnatural position. However, was he nudged to cause that?

There's little room for error now, although Hibernian face a testing trip to Celtic Park next weekend as they look to cement their position.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "We can play better than what we did today, but it shows the character of the players and the quality when we've needed it. It was a great finish from Mika [Mandron] - a set play we've worked on tirelessly.

"When the goal was disallowed, it gave us a bit of a kickstart. I don't remember too many clear-cut chances from Aberdeen. I thought we dealt with their threat well."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "We wanted more. We were not good enough to deserve to win, but maybe we were not bad enough to lose.

"The final pass didn't arrive in the right spaces - that's football sometimes. Today was not the perfect game, but also St Mirren did things well. We need to improve some parts in the away games and do better because we now have three more important games in the league."