In the last few years, games between Saints and Hamilton Accies have been relatively dull affairs. Usually the first goal is more than enough for a winner and, at half time, there appeared few signs that this would be any different.

Despite a shocking miss from Michael Higdon, Hamilton deservedly held the lead at half time thanks to Jon Routledge's goal. Minutes after the restart they doubled their lead thanks to Dougie Imrie's effort.

That should have been that, especially after Gareth Wardlaw had missed a sitter, but a Higdon strike just before the hour mark gave Saints hope. The same player struck again with around 15 minutes left and, in a pleasant surprise, both sides went for a winner that wasn't to come.

An entertaining game, yes, and a point when all hope looked lost. However, it cannot disguise the fact Saints are still bottom, still without a win in their last five games and still have a porous defence. Positively, Higdon bagged a double - although his miss will be the main talking point - the team showed their fighting spirit and youngster Kenny McLean looked good on his debut.

Having been pleased with all but the first and last five minutes at Fir Park a fortnight ago, Saints boss Danny Lennon decided to stick with the same starting 11 - handing Craig Samson and Patrick Cregg their home debuts. The only change came among the subs, with Paul McQuade replacing Jamie McCluskey. Hamilton's Paixao brothers caused Saints all sorts of problems last season but only Flavio started today, with Marco on the bench. Nigel Hasselbaink and Dougie Imrie were the other main attacking threats, although Simon Mensing should never be counted out.

The Paixao clan went close to frustrating Saints once again in the opening minutes when Flavio pounced on John Potter's loose header and his shot stung the palms of Samson. Two corners later Mark McLaughlin went close, heading over at the back post. Fellow defender Martin Canning produced a fierce header from another corner a few moments later - although this time it was at the other end and he narrowly missed out on scoring a spectacular own goal. Tomas Cerny was then called into action for the first time to keep out a Paul McGowan shot at his near post.

Potter was first to enter the book after 15 minutes for some blatant shirt and shorts pulling on Hasselbaink, although the striker did over-react ever so slightly. That was soon followed by a foul on Gareth Wardlaw and while Jure Travner's free-kick found the target, it had no pace and was never likely to cause Cerny any problems. A Gary McDonald shot at the other end that went wide wasn't much better. Midway through the half an ill-advised foray up the park from Lee Mair had the almost inevitable result of him losing possession and Paixao pounced, strolling forward before unleashing a drive that Samson was unable to hold before David van Zanten booted it to safety.

After half an hour, Saints should have been in front with possibly the easiest chance Michael Higdon will have all season. What exactly happened was the subject of much debate over the half-time pies and Breakaways in the press room, but what is a fact is that it started with Wardlaw being desperately unlucky to hit the bar with a curling shot from the edge of the box and finished with Higdon missing from two yards. In between is the subject of much debate. In this reporter's humble opinion, the rebound from Wardlaw's shot fell to van Zanten, who fired in an effort that was blocked. The ball then broke back to him and either through a pass or mis-placed shot he got it to Higdon, who had just two yards of grass between him and the net. However, he didn't get enough power into his shot and as the ball trundled towards the line, Canning cleared it away. The Saints players and fans looked at the linesman in the hope he would award a goal, but he was having none of it.

And, in typical St Mirren style, you can probably guess that happened next. Six minutes before the break Imrie cut the ball back, an Accies player left it and Jon Routledge's curled a low shot just out of Samson's reach into the bottom corner. After the shocking miss a few minutes earlier it was hard to take, but that aside there could be few complaints about the visitors taking the lead into the interval.