Stephen Robinson praised the character of his St Mirren side after they bounced back from their crushing defeat to Dundee by defeating Livingston in the cinch Premiership.
Sean Kelly’s first-half own goal settled a hard-fought encounter in which Saints passed up a number of good chances to win by a greater margin.
Robinson’s team remain third in the table having ended a run of three games without a win and now hold a two-point advantage over Hearts and sit four in front of Hibernian.
“I’m delighted, it was a really, really tough game,” Robinson said.
“It’s a tough game that we’ve come out on top of, we’ve reset ourselves, it was tough after a 4-0 defeat and it shows great character from the boys.
“When you play Livi it’s a battle, it’s a scrap and the game is reduced to longer balls. You have to land on seconds and you have to be physical – I think we’ve done that.
“The pitch was slippy, really hard to play on and a cold day – it’s those days that you show your character and I think we’ve done that in abundance today.
“We’ve shown character, a grit and steely determination to see the game out – and should have won maybe by more in the end on the counter attack but for our decision making.”
Robinson is hopeful he will not be without the services of Richard Taylor for an extended period of time after the defender was taken off on a stretcher with what appeared to be a nasty looking ankle injury.
The Buddies gaffer reckons Taylor is a major doubt for Tuesday’s trip to Ross County but could come back into the reckoning in the near future.
“It’s not as bad as it looked I don’t think, he walked off the stretcher afterwards,” he said.
“We’re hopeful, Tuesday might be a push but we’re hopeful it isn’t too serious.”
David Martindale felt his Livingston side failed to do enough to merit taking anything from their trip to the SMISA Stadium.
Livingston have slumped to the foot of the table following their sixth successive Premiership defeat.
“I don’t feel like we should have got something from the game but that’s me probably sitting with the negative hat on because we’re not picking points up,” Martindale said.
“We all know the basic fundamentals are that we need to start picking points up as quickly as possible.
“I try not to think too much about luck, I’m a great believer that you get what you work for in life and you’ve got to try to keep your head down and working hard.”
Late Palma strike sinks St Mirren as Celtic celebrate SPL triumph on final day
Luis Palma struck a late winner as champions Celtic twice came from behind to see off St Mirren 3-2 on the final day of the Scottish Premiership season.
It was a day of celebrations at Celtic Park for Brendan Rodgers' side, who wrapped up their third successive domestic title in midweek.
However, St Mirren threatened to spoil the party when Mark O'Hara fired them in front after just seven minutes.
Top scorer Matt O'Riley equalised for the hosts in the 21st minute, but they fell behind again just five minutes later when O'Hara doubled his tally from the penalty spot after Stephen Welsh fouled Toyosi Olusanya.
Kyogo Furuhashi levelled for Celtic before half-time, and the Hoops completed the turnaround with Palma scored the winner with four minutes remaining.
Rodgers' side finished eight points clear of second-place Rangers, who were held to a 3-3 draw by Hearts.
Despite falling behind to Lawrence Shankland's strike, goals from Ross McCausland, Todd Cantwell and Fabio Silva seemingly had the visitors on course for a comfortable win at Tynecastle.
However, there was to be a late twist with Dexter Lembikisa pulling a goal back in the 82nd minute, before Kyosuke Tagawa struck deep into stoppage time to rescue a point for the hosts.
There was also nothing to separate Dundee and Kilmarnock, who drew 1-1 in the other match on the final day.
Luke McCowan cancelled out Gary Mackay-Steven's earlier effort, though the Dundee captain squandered a glorious opportunity to complete the turnaround when he missed a penalty two minutes from time.
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
Al-Ittihad pegged back as winless run rolls on
Mohamed Sherif scored late on as Al-Ittihad's winless run in the Saudi Pro League stretched to four games after a 1-1 draw with Al-Khaleej.
Al-Ittihad have endured a miserable title defence, and with just two games remaining, the highest the big-spending, PIF-backed club can finish is fourth.
Muhannad Al Shanqiti put them ahead on the stroke of half-time, yet despite having a further eight shots and accumulating 1.07 xG in the second half, Al-Ittihad could not add another.
Their profligacy proved costly in the 81st minute, with Egypt international Sherif snatching an equaliser for 11th-placed Al-Khaleej.
Al-Tai moved out of the relegation zone with a surprise 3-1 win over seventh-placed Al-Fateh, with Bernard Mensah scoring twice.
Al-Raed, meanwhile, claimed a 1-0 win at Al-Wehda.
Data Debrief: Kante the creator?
On the day he received a surprising France recall, N'Golo Kante created three chances for Al-Ittihad, leading the team.
On the flip side, Kante only attempted one tackle, with the midfielder showing a different side to his game, not that it proved fruitful for his team.
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