JOHN McGINN has told the boo-boys to lay off St Mirren skipper Jim Goodwin.

The Saints leader was red carded after a second yellow card offence with 65 minutes gone of the Paisley men's relegation clash with Dundee.

Subsequently the Tayside team cashed in on their numerical advantage to notch a late winner and earn a much needed 2-1 victory.

That means that John Brown's side have narrowed the gap between the two sides to 10 points with just 12 left to play for in the relegation battle.

But teenage midfield starlet McGinn says no one should be playing the blame game with Goody.

He saidd: "It was not Jim Goodwin's fault we lost. We had the chances to win the game and did not take them and as a team we did not play well enough.

"Jim went for a 50/50 ball and he was unlucky to get the yellow.

"But he is a committed player and that is why he is such a great skipper and you can't take that out of his game.

"You live and die as a team and we just didn't do enough collectively and it had nothing to do with individuals."

Despite this defeat, the Paisley team remain favourites to stay up and also nurse a 25-goal advantage over Dundee.

But Saturday's setback was the second at the hands of the battling Dens Park side since Brown took over at Dens Park.

With Saints having taken just three from their last possible 12 SPL points and not having registered a league victory since Wednesday, February 27, in a 2-0 victory over Hearts, McGinn admits their season has flat lined since their Scottish Communities League Cup success.

McGinn added: "We have had it drummed into us that we can't let the season just peter out and allow an anti-climax to develop after the League Cup win – but that is what is happening.

"It's up to us to do something about that and provide the reaction and the result we need at Hibs on Saturday to put the relegation issue to bed once and for all."

The biggest talking point of the early exchanges was the eighth-minute standing ovation given to Buddies chairman Stewart Gilmour, in respect of his defiance of the league reconstruction proposals.

Five minutes before the break Dundee's Jim McAlister broke the deadlock with a powerful shot past Craig Samson.

In 52 minutes, Stevie Thompson made amends for earlier profligacy when he rose majestically to head home Gary Teale's dipping corner.

Then Dundee's luck finally changed when Gary Harkins found Carl Finnigan and his header hit the bar and bounced over the line.