Aberdeen served up a tonic for their absent caretaker manager Peter Leven as Bojan Miovski’s second-half penalty secured the Dons’ cinch Premiership status.
Leven was admitted to hospital and underwent what the club described as an “emergency procedure” on Friday evening, and is expected to make “a full and swift recovery”.
That left development coach Scott Anderson to step up to the plate as the fourth man to lead Aberdeen this season, and after a sluggish start they went on to dominate against Craig Levein’s Saints.
Junior Hoilett was the tormentor in chief, forcing an error from Dimitar Mitov that led to a Dons corner, from which the same man delivered for Stefan Gartenmann to head over.
Dante Polvara hit straight at Mitov after a neat shuffle of his feet, before Gartenmann popped up at the other end to head Benjamin Kimpioka’s shot clear, with Kelle Roos beaten.
The usually-deadly Miovski headed straight at Mitov, and had a further effort on his weaker right foot smothered by the Bulgarian goalkeeper as the home side stepped up the pressure.
And they came closest yet on the brink of half-time, as Hoilett picked the pocket of Daniel Phillips, before being brought down a couple of yards outside the penalty area. He clipped the resultant free-kick off the bar, and Gartenmann on the follow-up also hit the woodwork, this time the post.
The Dons began the second period in similar vein with Nicky Devlin’s improvised left-foot effort dropping just the wrong side of the post, before Mitov denied Jamie McGrath from Jack MacKenzie’s cut-back.
Angus Macdonald saw a net-bound header deflected away by Nicky Clark as the Dons continued to push for an opener, and Miovski was again denied after a neat exchange with McGrath.
The home side had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down as the ball seemed to strike an arm as Saints duo Phillips and Liam Gordon challenged for an aerial ball.
But with 25 minutes left, the Dons were awarded a spot kick as Devlin tumbled under the closing pair of Phillips and Andrew Considine. VAR checked first the penalty call, then a possible offside, before Miovski stepped up to slot into the bottom-right as Mitov went the other way.
Miovski should have netted again soon after, but uncharacteristically put the ball wide after McGrath had led a strong Dons break, and the striker flashed a header wide with five minutes remaining.
Saints sub Adama Sidibeh flashed a header over the bar in the dying stages, a rare glimpse of goal against a Dons side who held on to record their fifth clean sheet in the last six league matches.
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