SAINTS striker Simeon Jackson believes his Barnsley-made blossoming partnership with Adam Hammill can help St Mirren escape their relegation battle and rocket up the table.

The Paisley men triumphed over a Hearts side who appear to have lost all confidence and belief in themselves and are rapidly declining. Victory came courtesy of a quite outrageous 45-yard strike from Hammill just after the break, before he finished the capital side off with a composed finish.

A hugely welcome first league win for Paisley boss Oran Kearney – St Mirren's first success since the opening day of the season – was richly deserved against a Hearts side who have been destroyed by the loss of four key players – Steven Naismith, John Souttar, Christophe Berra and Uche Ikpeazu.

Hammill is now 30 but has a rich pedigree mostly in the English Championship and he has finishes like that in his locker – just ask Millwall fans who watched him score an equally magnificent strike in the 2016 League One play-off final for Barnsley against them.

In fact, striker Jackson and Hammill were both at the Oakwell club at the same time and they are developing an understanding up front, which is an area St Mirren have been severely lacking in this season. And Jackson believes there is more to come.

He said: "There is always another gear in there. The more games you play, the sharper you get.

"Adam is one of those players who tries things all the time. When it pays off like today, it's not surprising to us who train with him every day because he always tries that sort of thing. What a finish from him and even the second goal was a great finish too.

"We played together at Barnsley and when he came through the door here I was buzzing because I know what he can bring. He's been doing it for years and long may it continue here. He's based around the Sheffield area and we know each other from before and that helps when you come to the dressing room and there's a few lads you know.

"He's in the team because he is creative and he can do things like he did today and cause havoc for teams. So it's going all right and hopefully it will keep going this way."

For Hearts, it's five games and counting since they last scored a goal and they are short in confidence too. Veteran striker Steven MacLean believes all at the club have to stand up and be counted, especially with a home game against Rangers to come next week.

He said: "It wasn’t good enough from the whole side. We've got to stick together and come out the other end. We are on a bad run and the only way we will get out of it is with hard work and sticking together.

"Whether there is extra pressure or not, we have just got to step up to the mark. We are missing whoever we are missing but we just have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. We have created chances, well a few, although not loads of clear-cut chances, but we have to take responsibility and start sticking the ball away.

"I’m not going to sit here and pretend we aren’t missing those players, of course we are. At the end of the day John and Uche aren’t going to be back for a while so we have to forget about those two, but Christophe might be back soon and that will be a big help and then Naisy will be back in a few weeks.

"But in the meantime it is opportunities for every other player. We are going to miss those players, no doubt about that, anybody would, but as players we have to look after ourselves. Boys are playing for their future, me included, because if we are not doing the business then, when those players come back, we are going to be out the side. It is as simple as that.

"We can’t go into the Rangers game feeling sorry for ourselves, we have to go out there and do the right things and turn things around."