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Stevie Mallan (right) gave St Mirren a second half lead

St Mirren hammered Renfrewshire rivals Morton at Cappielow to move up to eighth in the Championship.

Stelios Demetriou, Stevie Mallan, John Sutton and Gary MacKenzie all scored to make it four wins from their last five league games for the Buddies.

Andy Murdoch had levelled for the hosts but it was a rare moment of joy for Morton, without a win in five games.

St Mirren are now one point ahead of Raith Rovers, who they have still to play in the run-in.

Morton looked nervy early on and manager Jim Duffy berated his players for being too hesitant in defence, something which led to Demetriou's opener.

Similar to his double against Hibernian, the Cypriot cut in from the left and fired low into the corner with his right foot in front of the travelling, uncovered fans to give them reason to cheer in the wind and rain.

A fine Ton move got the hosts back in it before the break, with Michael Doyle crossing for Murdoch to side foot home.

But the Paisley men reasserted themselves immediately after half-time in brilliant fashion - Mallan finding the bottom right hand corner from the edge of the box in typically impressive fashion.

Two became three when Rory Loy's low centre was converted by Sutton in what was his 100th start for the Buddies.

And defender MacKenzie put the icing on the cake with a downward header from Mallan's excellent delivery.

With four games remaining, Morton drop to fourth in the table but have an eight-point cushion on Queen of the South to protect their play-off prospects.

In-form St Mirren have to play the top three sides as well as Rovers in their battle for safety.