This was St Mirren's first home fixture in six weeks and after a humiliation at the hands of Falkirk, few of their long-suffering supporters would complain if it were to be a similar period of time before they have to trudge to Love Street again.

At 3.40pm and faced with the prospect of either heading out into the Paisley night to brave the ghastly conditions of relentless wind and rain, or stay in the relative sanctuary of the stadium and watch the rest of a surprisingly one-sided match, dozens of home supporters pulled on their cagoules and vanished into the gloom.

Those who stayed behind awaiting a miracle must have looked at those deserters with no little envy given St Mirren were trailing by three goals even before the half-time oranges had been handed out.

Those early departees missed a brief fightback - Billy Mehmet scored a fine volley before Franco Miranda struck the crossbar with a ferocious free kick - before St Mirren's huge defensive frailties were exposed once more as Graham Barrett and Carl Finnigan added to earlier strikes plundered by Pedro Moutinho, who scored twice, and a spectacular Steven Thomson effort.

St Mirren, without the suspended Will Haining, looked in danger of conceding at every Falkirk attack. At half-time, Billy Abercrombie, captain of the 1987 Scottish Cup-winning side, was enticed out on to the pitch to be officially welcomed into the St Mirren Hall of Fame. Reports that Gus MacPherson, the manager, tried to get the 49-year-old to play in the second half remain unconfirmed but, frankly, he could not have done any worse. MacPherson acknowledged that Haining's absence had been a factor in St Mirren's downfall but didn't spare those players involved in the defeat that saw his team drop to 11th place in the table "That's as poor as we've played in the time we've been here. Haining's absence has had an effect but that shouldn't be the case if you lose one player from your back four. Maybe some of the players think they are better than a club like St Mirren but, if they do, that was a timely reminder for them."

In contrast, John Hughes, the Falkirk manager, couldn't have looked happier if someone had just slipped him the six numbers ahead of Saturday night's lottery draw.

"I'm very pleased for the boys, especially Steven Thomson who scored the pick of the goals, and also for Graham Barrett after all he's been through."

Best for Falkirk, however, was Moutinho. The Portuguese striker has been utilised wide left recently but expressed his satisfaction at simply playing.

"What I want to do is to play. Even if the gaffer asks me to play as a goalkeeper I would give it my best," he said with a grin.

Few others were smiling in Paisley come Saturday night.