St Mirren made Aberdeen pay for their toothless domination of possession as Chris Innes scored for the second Scottish Premier League game in a row.
Dons goalkeeper Jamie Langfield denied Andy Dorman with a fine save in the opening minutes in Paisley.
But a couple of Paul Gallacher saves and a Charlie Mulgrew free-kick that hit the bar were all the Dons could muster despite pinning the Saints back.
And Innes half-volleyed home an Andy Dorman corner after 73 minutes.
St Mirren had welcomed back fit-again captain John Potter, while David Barron, Hugh Murray and Michael Higdon came in at the expense of Lee Mair, Steven Robb, Allan Johnston and Craig Dargo.
The re-organised home side started in good heart following Saturday’s Scottish Cup win over Alloa Athletic and were denied an opener within two minutes of kick-off when the ball fell kindly for Andy Dorman off the back of Billy Mehmet’s head.
But a strong hand from Jamie Langfield blocked the midfielder’s low drive from just six yards as the goalkeeper did superbly to keep the scores level.
Langfield’s opposite number, Paul Gallacher, was left exposed at the other end seconds later after a mix-up in the St Mirren defence.
However, Peter Pawlett’s outstretched leg could only turn the ball a few feet wide from 10 yards with the empty goal gaping.
His fellow young Dons midfielder, Fraser Fyvie, was next to threaten with a sweet drive from 25 yards that sliced a few yards wide, while a curling effort from Richard Foster from the edge of the box was deflected just wide.
Foster’s return on the right was timely with Maurice Ross having left the club to join Chinese champions Beijing Guoan, while Davide Grassi was also back from suspension a day before his birthday as Lee Miller dropped out because of his ban.
The game descended into a scrappy affair after that lively opening until the Dons forced two fine saves from Gallacher.
Charlie Mulgrew’s curling free-kick from 18 yards was at a nice height for the goalkeeper to paw the ball clear then the former Scotland squad man did well turn wide a more testing 30-yard drive from Paul Marshall.
The Dons created the first chance of the second half, with Darren Mackie’s pace putting him behind the home defence, but his chip past Gallacher did not have enough pace and Chris Innes managed to collect before it crossed the goal-line.
St Mirren’s first real threat since the opening minutes came when a miss-hit cross from Stephen McGinn almost caught out Langfield at the goalkeeper’s near post.
That was a rare foray forward and Mulgrew came close to giving the Dons a deserved lead when another of his trademark free-kicks took a wicked deflection before thumping off the roof of the crossbar with Gallacher stranded.
A moment of slackness by Mulgrew led to St Mirren making the breakthrough after 73 minutes.
His attempted clearance was blocked by Stephen McGinn, whose low cross forced a corner off Jerel Ifil.
The defender breathed a sigh of relief as the ball nestled in the side-netting with Langfield off his line, but despair was only delayed a matter of seconds as Innes superbly half-volleyed from 16 yards into the top corner from Dorman’s corner.
Grassi and Mark Kerr sliced efforts past, while a drive from substitute Chris Maguire cannoned off the far post.
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