Alex Gogic scored the only goal of the game as St Mirren booked their place in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with a 1-0 win against Queen of the South.
Queens are languishing in seventh place in League One but produced a spirited display to frustrate the Scottish Premiership side until Gogic headed home from Greg Kiltie’s corner after 71 minutes.
The Paisley outfit spurned several good opportunities, with Hearts loanee Harry Stone impressing in goal for the visitors.
St Mirren, who handed a debut to Celtic loanee Kwon Hyeok-kyu, dominated possession from the start, with their first real chance arriving in the 12th minute when captain Marcus Fraser’s header was tipped over by Stone.
The hosts looked to have broken the deadlock after 19 minutes through Greg Kiltie. Jonah Ayunga found space beyond the defence and his shot across goal was parried by Stone and Kiltie tapped into an empty net as the linesman raised his flag.
It appeared an incredibly tight decision but with no VAR in operation, the goal was disallowed.
Queens barely ventured into their opponents’ half during the opening half hour but Lewis Gibson spurned a promising counter-attack opportunity when he dallied on the ball in the box and Fraser made an excellent block.
The visitors’ back five were frustrating the hosts and they were forced to try their luck from range when the dangerous Kiltie fired just wide of the post on the half hour.
Queens did carry a threat on the break, though, and Lee Connolly should have scored from six yards but he inexplicably tried to take a touch and the danger was cleared.
St Mirren started the second half in the ascendancy and Elvis Bwomono was denied a certain goal with a rasping shot by a superb goal-line clearance from Efe Ambrose.
The visitors began to ramp up the pressure and Scott Tanser saw a stunning effort smash off the crossbar after 54 minutes.
The game became scrsappy after a bright start to the second half, but St Mirren eventually opened the scoring when Gogic powered a header past Stone.
Queens looked deflated and barely threatened Zach Hemming as St Mirren comfortably saw out the final 20 minutes.