WORDS were not needed to bring to life the galling pain that smacked St Mirren in the face on Saturday.

One flick of Kilmarnock striker Lee Miller's boot was enough to strike despair into the hearts of a collective whose SPFL Premiership pulse is growing ever fainter.

As the ball trundled beyond Mark Ridgers and into the net with just seconds remaining, a jubilant home support sprang to their feet around Rugby Park as the men in yellow sank to their knees on it.

Nine games to go and St Mirren are still bottom by a point, with Saturday representing another missed opportunity to take the just rewards for an afternoon's work that was within their grasp for so long.

No words were needed - but John McGinn (pictured), gave us them anyway. "It was a sickener, dejection is the only way I can describe it. The boys are absolutely devastated," said the St Mirren midfielder.

"Teams round about us are picking up points and we know we have to do the same if we want to stay in the league. Goals like that is not what we're looking for.

"We spoke about capitalising on the chances we created early on. We gave them a bit of a doing and we didn't do that. Second half we didn't pose a threat and that is something we have addressed. Hopefully we can do that again next week and carry it into the second half."

Hope is something the St Mirren players will cling to in the wake of a defeat that was not merited.

Jim Goodwin, Steven Thompson (twice) both went close in the first half for Saints before James Dayton smashed a fierce volley off the bar.

In the second half, the former Killie man and Sean Kelly had chances that, if taken, would surely have put their hosts to the sword. A quick glance at the table reveals St Mirren's predicament is slightly different to that of the teams beside them.

Motherwell and Ross County have been shambolic for most of the season and have only shown signs of a recovery in the last month, but that has not been the case for the Paisley side.

Going back to the very first game of the season at Fir Park, St Mirren have, at times, played some purposeful football and held large portions of possession in games.

But being able to play well and still not get the result is a cross the Buddies have had to bear, and McGinn knows the expectation on him and his team-mates is being felt.

He said: "Everyone is feeling the pressure. There will be jobs lost if teams go down and we're fighting for ours."

Meanwhile, Kilmarnock manager Gary Locke was in a more positive frame of mind.The man who spent last season in a similar dogfight with Hearts is enjoying the different challenge of pushing for a top-six place.

Saturday's win keeps Killie within three points of that goal, and he said: "We're not getting carried away, but we've given ourselves a better chance."