Last updated on .From the section Scottish Premiership

St Mirren beat managerless Kilmarnock to claim a first win in four games and move six points clear of the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

Ilkay Durmus' goal was enough to boost their survival hopes, with basement club Hearts dropping points elsewhere.

But Kilmarnock fall out of the top six after a fifth loss in a row.

And caretaker boss Alex Dyer's hopes of claiming the job permanently suffered a blow as his side went a sixth game without a goal.

It is first time the Ayrshire side have suffered such a poor run of league form since May 2015 when they last lost five-in-a-row under Gary Locke's tutelage.

Kilmarnock's struggles continue

It had been a testing December for both sides. St Mirren with one win from five, while Kilmarnock hadn't even scored a goal.

The visitors, backed in big numbers despite their recent struggles, took to the task of ending that goal drought early on. Liam Millar just needed a connection on Alex Bruce's cross to steer it home, before goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky couldn't hold Eamonn Brophy's powerful hit.

But it was the home side who showed more cutting edge when Tony Andreu played through Durmus. The former Turkish youth international got himself between the two central defenders and lashed a sweet low shot to the right of the goalkeeper.

Kilmarnock's woes were not helped by Rory McKenzie limping off with a hamstring injury, with Osman Sow emerging from the bench looking for his first goal of the season.

And the Swedish forward nearly got his wish when a free-kick trickled through a ruck of bodies, but he just could not get a toe on it. Minutes later he had an effort disallowed for offside.

It was all half chances for Kilmarnock though as St Mirren began to take control. Durmus was not too far away when his shot from the edge of the box fizzed over the bar, then Kilmarnock goalkeeper Laurentiu Branescu showed brilliant reflexes to push over Andreu's goalbound header at the front post.

The best chances continued to fall for St Mirren. A lovely one-touch passing move inside the box opened up the chance for Junior Morais, but his shot offered an easy save for the goalkeeper.

Jonathan Obika followed up with three good chances, one saved while the other two flew wide.

You wondered if that profligacy may come back to haunt Jim Goodwin's men, but Kilmarnock rarely looked like they could find a late leveller.

Man of the match - Paul McGinn

BBC Scotland's Chick Young at the Simple Digital Arena

The McGinn dynasty at St Mirren rolls on. Stephen, then John, then Stephen again, and now the versatility of Paul is looking invaluable. He is a right back by trade, but has recently performed at centre half.

As Jim Goodwin took a hammer to fit the pieces of his back four jigsaw together with two midfielders in it, McGinn was moved to left back. And he was outstanding.

'The players need to know' - reaction

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: "We really should have killed the game off. I asked the players to keep a clean sheet because I felt if we did that we would score.

"We probably had more attempts on target today than we have had in any other game this season. I couldn't be any happier with the overall performance."

Kilmarnock caretaker manager Alex Dyer: "We need to sort out the manager issue straight away I think. Whether that's me or someone else, the players need to know.

"A decision needs to be made over the next week or so."