Dundee United made it back-to-back league wins to ease the pressure on manager Csaba Laszlo.
Defender Paul Watson, who was deservedly named man-of-the-match, rose superbly to nod home in both halves at Tannadice.
Craig Curran then made it three late on, only for the visitors to grab a consolation goal through sub Chris Erskine in injury-time to make it 3-1.
It was an encouraging performance from the Tangerines as they built on the victory down at Queen of the South in their previous Championship fixture.
The result was definitely a huge boost to Laszlo, who had come under fire from fans for his team’s poor start to the campaign.
United started brightly this time and opened the scoring with a well-worked goal after just six minutes.
They won a freekick out on the right when striker Pavol Safranko was fouled. Fraser Aird took the setpiece and his excellent ball into the goalmouth was nodded home by Watson, who did really well to hang in the air and direct the ball past former United goalkeeper Cammy Bell.
The United fans in the 5,219 crowd were looking for more goals in the second half and they should have had one on 66 minutes when Yannick Loemba cut back inside the box and should have slammed the ball home rather than scuffed his shot.
There was moment to remember – or forget if you are the player – when Loemba blasted a shot over the roof of the Eddie Thompson Stand from the edge of the box. It was a rare “achievement” indeed.
The hosts needed another one to make the points safe and it duly arrived on 78 minutes.
Defender Frederic Frans won a corner on the right and Loemba made amends for his sky-high strike by sending over a beautiful cross that was met full on by Watson’s forehead for his second of the match.
Curran wrapped it all up when he prodded the ball over the line from a yard out after some fine trickery and great cross from Aird.
The Jags got a consolation goal in stoppage-time when a handling error by goalie Matej Rakovan allowed former United man Erskine to head home from close range.
Despite throwing away their clean sheet, this was United’s best result in a long time and now what they need to do is build on it when they head to Alloa on Saturday.
