Miller snatches win for Kilmarnock
St Mirren wasted the chance to climb off the foot of the Scottish Premiership after Lee Miller's first goal for Kilmarnock sealed a last-gasp 1-0 win at Rugby Park.
The Buddies saw relegation rivals Motherwell lose to Aberdeen on Friday night and knew even a point against Gary Locke's side would move them off bottom spot.
But despite having the bulk of the chances, they were stunned late on when substitute Miller guided a low finish past keeper Mark Ridgers with just three minutes left.
The former Hearts and Aberdeen forward has struggled in front of goal since returning north from Carlisle in the summer but his strike was perfectly timed for Killie, who stretch their unbeaten run to seven games.
Saints' best chance came after just 15 minutes when James Dayton rocked the crossbar with a vicious volley.
With just eight games left for Gary Teale's side, time is quickly running out for them to save their skins.
Both sides had early chances to make the perfect start.
St Mirren's opportunity came first when a Stevie Mallan free-kick found defender Jim Goodwin in the box but his volley was tipped over by former Buddie Craig Samson.
Nathan Eccleston then soared a shot over Ridgers' bar after Saints fail to deal with Alexei Eremenko's corner.
The Paisley men - buoyed by their first home win of the season last week against Hamilton - looked confident and came close again. Mallan got down the right-hand side of the Killie defence and slung a tempting low cross into the six-yard box but skipper Stevie Thompson could not connect.
Two former Rugby Park favourites then combined for the visitors' next chance. Jeroen Tesselaar stood up a great delivery to the back post for Dayton but the winger's sensational technique went unrewarded as his volley crashed against the bar.
Eremenko was brought back in to Locke's line-up after starting the last three matches on the bench.
He was soon justifying his recall as he twice picked out Eccleston with beautiful passes over the top of the Buddies defence. However, the former Partick striker sent his first finish wide before Ridgers stopped the second.
The first skirmishes of the second period saw Samson push away another Dayton strike but Killie were left wondering where their creativity would come from when the injured Eremenko had to be replaced by Paul Cairney after an hour.
Saints, meanwhile, had swapped Dayton for former West Ham youngster Kieran Sadlier and he immediately injected some extra invention into Teale's side.
Driving in from the right he lured Killie skipper Manuel Pascali into a clumsy foul on the edge of the box. From the free-kick Mallan picked out Sean Kelly unmarked inside the six-yard box but he somehow ballooned his finish.
Defender Victor Genev's miss from similar range moments later was just as bad as he fired straight at Samson when he had more than enough time to pick his spot. The rebound fell at the feet of Alan Gow but the offside flag sprung up just as he did put the ball in the net.
Miller was thrown on for the final 15 minutes in place of Tope Obadeyi but first Magennis snatched at a late chance to bury his former Saints team-mates.
The Northern Irishman made amends with three minutes left, though, as he provided Miller with a perfect cross for his late winner. The ball was travelling at pace but hitman Miller kept his composure as he steered the ball past Ridgers into the bottom corner.
Source: PA
