Saints went with a 3-5-2 formation, as opposed to tne normal 4-4-2, with Eddie Annand making a rare start alongside Allan Russell. The midfield had the usual suspects, with the defence consisting of Captain Chaos, Mark Dempsie and Kirk Broadfoot. No John O'Neill or Chris McGroarty, both of who were on the bench alongside Brian McGinty and Barry Lavety.
Those who were there will agree with me that the first hour was, to put it bluntly, crap. Three things happened. Ayr had a defender sent off in the first half after he tackled Ricky Gillies. Whether it was a foul or not I'm not sure, it looked like one from the Reid Kerr College Stand, however that was a bit away. With it being a clear goal scoring opportunity (Ricky had a virtually clear path to goal afterwards), the defender had to go. The closest Saints had was a Gillies volley which was cleared.
The other two things in the first hour were Saints chances. Annand should have had his first goal against his former club as he volleyed wide with the chance easier to score. Russell had our other chance, taking it round former Saint Ludo Roy, but Mark Campbell got in the way before he could tap it in and instead he got all muddy.
A dire game then got exciting. After the red card, Ayr had fought really well and on 64 minutes, they somehow managed to cut the ball back from the byline and Stewart Kean had a simple tap in. 1-0 Ayr.
At that point we were down. Sure, had it stayed the same we would still have been three points ahead of Ayr, however we hadn't won since January and would have taken just a point from the two bottom sides, once after being 2-0 up and once again ten men.
Saints player boss Gus MacPherson obviously realised drastic action was needed. People who play Championship Manager will know what I mean when I say we went into "Gung Ho" mode, or the old fashioned "All Out Attack"Before the goal Brian McGinty had replaced Annand, and after it Basher came on for Russell. He'd only been on a minute before the scores were level.
Several players were involved in the build up, Lavety, Gillies, Lappin, before the ball bounced around in the box. Andy Millen appeared to handle the ball in the scramble and, after the goal Celtic had disallowed, we were lucky to get away with it. The ball fell to a Saints player who absolutey cracked it and, via the underside of the bar, we were level. The Saints player in question? David van Zanten! The Irishman with the Dutch sounding name had scored his first Saints goal, and probably his first ever competitive goal for anyone.
Saints could smell a win and kept attacking, looking for a goal that would give them the lead and all but secure safety. After 78 minutes, some more good build up play saw the ball passed across the box for Brian McGinty to hammer into the bottom corner past Ludo. Relegation? With the cheers for McGinty's third of the season you'd have thought we'd won the league!
What now, defend and hope for the win or go for it? I'm a believer in the "attack is the best form of defence" theory and it seemed Gus was too. Basher should have got a goal when he was clean through. Ludo saved the initial shot before Basher hammered the rebound over. Oops!
The third goal came shortly after, Simon Lappin's cross being dropped by Ludo (who'se clearly still a Saint), and van Zanten was there to tuck away the rebound. In the space of ten minutes our right back had scored the same as Robert Dunn has all season!
It seemed that whilst scoring, David had hit Ludo in the head and he needed a bit of treatment. It looked like he might have to be replaced by John Hillcoat but he played on, though didn't respind to the chants of his name from the folk in the Reid Kerr stand.
Incredibly a fourth was just a minute away, when another Lappin cross was missed by Lavety and put home at the back post by David Craig. Who's he? An Ayr defender. Vairous places have given the goal to Lappin and Basher but Mirren Mad knows best. It was an own goal.
So, Saints had scored four goals in the league for the first time since October 2002, all in the space of 15 minutes. In the end we deserved the win and with us now nine points clear of Ayr with just four games left, we can relax a little.
Why Ayr boss Campbell Money didn't make any changes before we ran riot I'll never know, as they are now heading down. Brian McGinty was superb, whilst Basher did well after he came on. Simon Lappin was outstanding but the best player has to be David van Zanten, who had a great game as well as scoring twice.
Falkirk next week, and we could do with a win. We haven't beaten them away for years, and anywhere since April 2000. Sort it Gus and make safety official.