Promotion-chasing St Mirren against rock-bottom Raith should have been no contest but it took a second-half penalty from former Rangers youngster Brian McGinty and some fine goalkeeping from Craig Hinchcliffe to give the home side a less than convincing victory.
They were clearly struggling from the start and in the fourth minute Raith striker John Martin fired the ball over the bar from a tight angle.
Hinchcliffe had an excellent game but was slightly lucky midway through the first period when he was caught out of position on the edge of his penalty area but was let off the hook by Martin who decided not to go for a 50-50 ball which he surely could have reached ahead of Hinchcliffe.
An injury in defence forced Rovers to re-organise and St Mirren were on top for the rest of the first half although part-time model, Allan Russell, failed to fashion a goal from two shooting opportunities.
St Mirren showed greater urgency after the interval but Martin almost stunned them on the counter-attack with a low shot which Hinchcliffe pushed away for a corner.
McGinty's penalty might have discouraged the visitors and opened the floodgates but St Mirren never looked comfortable sitting on their 1-0 lead and Hinchcliffe made two more crucial saves from Martin and top scorer, Hamed Sacko.