ST JOHNSTONE may have flirted with relegation for a week or so but there is now next to no chance of them going down.

The Perth men’s win over Hamilton lifted them to seventh in the Premiership, 12 points ahead of the play-off place and 15 above the bottom spot with seven games remaining. It’s not been a great campaign but they are going be fine.

As for Hamilton, they still have a bit of work to do. They were awful in the first-half which cost them any real chance of taking a point here - although they did have opportunities to score late on.

"I think it buys us some breathing space," said a happy Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager.

"There are five teams beneath us now and everyone has still to play each other. That's us on 37 points and you would be unlucky to be dragged into the play-off with that amount.

"Plus, we want to get more points because we are on a bit of a run now and we want to win some more games between now and the end of the season.

"The table looks a lot healthier tonight and I'm pleased for the players. We have looked more like ourselves in recent weeks.

"I was happy with the performance. We deserved to win, even if we should have scored a few more goals in the first-half.

"But I'll take a 1-0. It got a bit nervy towards the end but we were the better side."

Four minutes had passed when St Johnstone scored what for them was a simple goal and for Hamilton one which has the coaching staff in tears. It was to prove the winner.

From a corner taken by Blair Aston, Liam Craig flicked on, Steven McLean might have got a touch and the ball seemed to go in off Accies’ Scott McMann.

The home side almost doubled their lead within a few minutes. Another Alston corner caused panic in a Hamilton defence which was still in the dressing room, the ball fell at the foot of Chris Kane whose shot was blocked a few yards from goal by Rakish Bingham.

It was all St Johnstone. Alston’s delivery had Hamilton all over the place. They didn’t pick up Kane on 24 minutes, Alston’s cross picked out the striker, and his header was just a couple of inches too high.

McMann saved a goal when he took a sore one when blocking a shot from Alston after great work by Scott Tanser.

Hamilton did improve after the break. They had far more energy and at least looked like a team. But the final ball cost them, as it has for much of this season. In saying that, a fine save from St Johnstone keeper Alan Mannus on 69 minutes denied the Accies an equaliser.

A David Templeton corner was punched by Mannus, the ball fell to Darian MacKinnon, he shot first time and the goalie reacted superbly to get himself down on the ball almost under his own crossbar.

Templeton was a real highlight for Accies and his free-kick with 15 to go forced Mannus into some more work. And the same Hamilton man had a goal-bound shot deflected just wide before Mannus did well again to kept out a Dougie Imrie header.

Where was this in the first-half form Martin Canning’s side?

"It was frustrating because that was a big opportunity for us to take three points and look up the way instead of pulling out our best results when our backs are against the wall," said the Hamilton manager.

"There wasn't much in it and the first half we did not do enough, and the second half we created a few chances and should "We are 2-1 up against Ross County and get done with a set-piece and end up taking one point instead of three and it has happened again against St Johnstone which stops us from taking a point and that is poor."