May the fourth be with you? On Star Wars Day, it looked like the St Mirren fans would be left as crestfallen as Luke Skywalker when he watched auld Ben Kenobi succumb to a Darth Vader swipe.

David Turnbull’s 13th goal of a mightily impressive campaign looked to have done the job for Motherwell while virtually condemning St Mirren to a relegation play-off. For the second time in seven days, though, the Saints went marching in to the bitter end and were rewarded with spectacular late show that should have been hosted by Letterman. Kyle Magennis’ brilliant left-footed strike in stoppage time, which was almost as rousing as Danny Mullen’s thunderous volley to salvage a point against St Johnstone last week, sparked off the kind of boisterous celebrations the Rebel Alliance embarked on when they obliterated the Death Star.

With Hamilton beating Dundee to move four points clear of St Mirren, the Paisley club still have a sizeable job on their hands to avoid that dreaded two-legged shoot-out but Magennis’ last gasp leveller gives them, well, a new hope. And if we crow bar anymore ropey references to Star Wars into this piece, we’ll be getting a court summons from George Lucas. St Mirren versus Hamilton next Monday should be quite a blockbuster. “I rewind back to September and if you’d said with two games to go we’d at least have secured a play-off position I’d have taken your arm off,” said St Mirren manager Oran Kearney, who at least doesn’t have to worry about the threat of automatic relegation with Dundee’s dismal season reaching a grim conclusion. “But the players have to be greedy now. You try not to look down but look up. The mentality is catching Hamilton so we’ve not concerned ourselves with being caught. It’s now about not being part of a play-off. If we beat Hamilton and Dundee then Hamilton must win on the last day.”

The sizeable St Mirren travelling support were in good voice but Motherwell came close to putting their collective gas at a peep within a couple of minutes after a dangerous early thrust. Allan Campbell wriggled into the box and when his effort was blocked by the sprawling Vaclav Hladky, the loose ball fell to Gboly Aryibi whose follow up was booted off the line by Mateo Muzek.

The visitors responded with a curling free-kick which Mark Gillespie, the Motherwell keeper, gathered but then nearly allowed to squirm away from him before his opposite number Hladky bundled a James Scott strike round the post with a rather cumbersome looking save.

The hosts looked more assured and measured in the initial to-ings and fro-ings while St Mirren were forced into a shuffling of personnel when Ryan Flynn hirpled off after 25 minutes and was replaced by Magennis. Sandwiched between that changing of the guard was a raking effort from Kyle McAllister and a powerful clatter from Liam Grimshaw, both of which narrowly missed the target. There was also a penalty claim for St Mirren – Danny Mullen went down in a challenge with Tom Aldred – and Kearney had his own view on it. “A stonewall penalty,” he observed. “When it’s 0-0, those are pivotal moments.

After that the first half meandered to a fairly uneventful conclusion. The second period did little to rouse the senses either. Mullen, who was becoming increasingly exasperated by the tangles he was embroiled in with Aldred and Charles Dunne, plonked in a shot that was comfortably clutched by Gillespie before Turnbull had a go from distance only to threaten those perched in the stand behind the goal as the ball sailed over.

The 19-year-old would have better luck on 74 minutes, however, when he pounced to break the grim deadlock. A cross into the box from the right was headed down by Scott and the lurking Turnbull rattled in a neatly executed half volley which flew into the corner of the net.

Motherwell looked like they would see out the game quite comfortably. In the last knockings, Motherwell substitute Elliot Frear was at the vanguard of a four versus two situation but with a variety of options he opted for the wrong one and skittered a weak shot straight into the keeper’s hands. That would come home to roost right at the death as Popescu’s long-thrown in broke to Magennis and his rasping drive just about ripped the netting off. “We should be clever to see the game out,” lamented the Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson. “We had a four versus two with 30 seconds left, made a poor decision then didn’t defend a long throw. It’s frustrating losing with the last kick of the game. Younger players’ decisions weren’t as great as they could have been but you live and learn with those decisions.”

One of the young 'uns who continues to stand out is Turnbull. “I’ll be shocked if he’s not named young player of the year,” Robinson declared ahead of tonight's awards ceremony