With their full complement intact, Hamilton were able to race forward moments later and see man-of-the-match James Keatings put the seal on a 3-1 win which moves them five points clear of the second-bottom Buddies.

Frustrated Kearney said: “I think Gordon should have been sent off. I thought we were on the front foot in the second half and that was our big moment.

“I was pretty much celebrating. If you’re inside the penalty box it’s a yellow card and a penalty because there are no double whammys anymore. But it’s a cynical challenge outside the box. That’s the rules of the game.

“That’s the most black-and-white decision of the day. If they go down to 10 men that’s gives us a great chance of kicking on. It’s baffling, to be honest with you.”

Saints were looking to build on last week’s win over Hearts – their first since Kearney took over three months ago – but were undone after 21 minutes when Dougie Imrie headed home from a Keatings corner.

Keatings then delivered another quality free-kick delivery for Gordon to put his side two ahead on 43 minutes but Saints skipper Stephen McGinn cut the deficit on the stroke of half-time.

There was no way back for the Buddies when Keatings’ sublime 55th-minute strike was followed up soon after by a red card for striker Simeon Jackson.

There was concern for the visitors when Keatings limped off with a foot injury – but boss Martin Canning is confident he will be fit for Wednesday’s trip to fellow strugglers Dundee.

“We’ve got to thank Keatsy for the bits of quality he provided,” he said. “Both set-piece deliveries and his goal were all fantastic. That’s the special talent he can be if we can get him up and running.

“He got a bang on his foot so we just have to assess him over the next couple of days and we’ll see how it goes.

“We want our good players on the pitch and hopefully Keatsy recovers in time for Wednesday.

“He’s up and about, walking about the changing room. When it happened, he felt like his foot went numb but I think he might have just caught a wee nerve on the top of his foot.

“I would hope he would be fine but we will have him in tomorrow to assess him. We’ll give him every opportunity to get fit.

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