Hearts proved that there is excitement to be found in the bottom six as they edged out St Mirren at Tynecastle.
St Mirren took the lead through Ryan McCay's swerving shot on 20 minutes.
Eggert Jonsson's deflected effort levelled for Hearts, before Gary Glen's goal from 12 yards gave the Edinburgh side a half-time lead.
Gary Mason snatched a spectacular equaliser with a long-range volley, but Laryea Kingston's 30-yard free-kick won the day for Stephen Frail's men.
Hearts caretaker manager Frail had handed Glen his first start in attack.
And the 18-year-old looked bright, forcing a corner within two minutes of kick-off.
A small crowd by Tynecastle standards turned up to watch their teams' first bottom six match since the SPL split.
And the subdued atmosphere appeared to aid the visitors as they tried to further their good record at Tynecastle over the last two seasons.
Andy Dorman was first to test Steve Banks in the Hearts goal with a 25-yard effort that had the goalkeeper scrambling to save.
Saints boss Gus MacPherson would have been the happier manager with the way his side had started.
And it was the Buddies who took the lead midway through the first half.
McCay played a neat one-two with Garry Brady in midfield, before unleashing a swerving left-footed shot from around 25 yards that flew into the top corner past Banks.
It was a memorable first goal for McCay, but the visitors' lead was to last only eight minutes.
Glen did well out wide before feeding the ball to Jonsson.
The Icelandic international tried his luck from the edge of the box and the ball ended up in the net via a significant deflection off defender Will Haining.
And, minutes before half-time, Hearts took the lead with another player netting his first goal.
Howard did well to save Glen's initial effort after Mikoliunas put him through on goal.
But the young forward kept his composure to stroke the rebound high into the net from 12 yards.
St Mirren might have felt aggrieved to have been the losing side at the break, but into the second period Hearts began to justify their lead.
Within a minute, Kingston watched a right-footed effort from 18 yards go just over the bar.
And Frail's men almost went 3-1 ahead when Howard collided with his defender, Ian Maxwell.
The ball broke to Juho Makela, but the Finn's net-bound shot was turned wide by Haining for a Hearts corner.
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St Mirren offered little in the second 45 until Dorman again sent in a long-range effort that Banks did well to hold.
But the Paisley team grabbed a stunning equaliser after 77 minutes, when Mason fired a dipping volley from 22 yards that gave Banks no chance.
However, Hearts wasted little time in re-establishing their lead through Kingston.
The Ghanaian sized up a direct free-kick from 30 yards before curling the ball into the postage stamp corner.
Craig Dargo had a great chance to earn a share of the spoils for St Mirren, but the striker could only shoot over from 14 yards and Hearts took all three points in a thrilling encounter.
Hearts: Banks, Thomson, Berra, Karipidis, Goncalves (Wallace 79), Palazuelos, Jonsson, Kingston, Mikoliunas, Nade (Makela 61), Glen (Stewart 88).
Subs Not Used: Basso, Zaliukas, Screpis, Ivaskevicius.
Goals: Jonsson 28, Glen 42, Kingston 81.
St Mirren: Howard, Barron, Haining, Potter, Maxwell, McCay (Hamilton 78), Dorman, Mason (Corcoran 87), Brady (McGinn 67), Dargo, Mehmet.
Subs Not Used: Smith, Kean, Brittain, O'Donnell.
Goals: McCay 20, Mason 78.
Att: 15,259
Ref: M McCurry.
BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: St Mirren's Gary Mason 7.67 (on 90 minutes).
• Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished.
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