The Perth dream of retaining the Scottish Cup is still alive.
Saints secured their second successive 2-1 win over Ross County, with the goals coming from the same source.
Michael O’Halloran and James McFadden put Tommy Wright’s men two up early on but there was a County second half strike which set up a fraught last half hour for the holders.
If County had gained confidence from a good second half performance when these two teams met seven days ago, it certainly didn’t show in the first half.
It was one-way traffic towards their goal from the off, and there were only six minutes on the clock when Saints broke the deadlock.
McFadden fed O’Halloran and Jamie Reckord brought him down on the 18 yard line.
The defender only got a yellow card rather than red, but his foul was severely punished seconds later. McFadden hit the free-kick into the wall, it broke to O’Halloran and he found Mark Brown’s bottom right corner for his fourth goal in four games.
There was an element of controversy about the goal, as the far-side assistant referee had flagged to signal that a Saints player had strayed into an offside position when the shot was struck.
Referee John Beaton made the right call in deciding that there was no interference and the goal should stand.
It was 2-0 Saints on 12 minutes, thanks to a McFadden classic.
There were shades of the former Scotland man’s iconic goal in Paris about his 25-yarder, which gave Brown no chance.
O’Halloran has been prolific of late, but he has also shown a selfish streak that has frustrated Brian Graham.
The Dundee United loan striker was in a great position to make it 3-0 but O’Halloran made the wrong choice to shoot rather than lay the ball off to his team-mate.
McFadden then came close with another long-range shot, this time with his right foot, and it wasn’t until just before the half hour mark that County threatened for the first time.
Steven Anderson failed to clear and it took a sliding Brian Easton block to stop Martin Woods’ shot.
Alan Mannus was called into action a few minutes later to stop a Chris Millar own goal, after it was the Saints man’s head that helped on a Tony Dingwall cross.
The game could have been put beyond County’s reach on 38 minutes.
O’Halloran drove down the left and crossed to the back post, where Lee Croft was in space. The winger’s shot beat Brown but Scott Boyd cleared off the line.
A County comeback looked possible in the early stages of the second half.
Joe Cardle shaved the post with a shot from distance on 47 minutes and five minutes later Mannus tipped a Reckord shot over the bar.
It was definitely game-on when the visitors made it 2-1.
Croft was lucky not to be shown a red for a lunge on Liam Boyce in midfield, but the County players didn’t waste any time on protests and the ball was hit forward through the middle for Jake Jervis to run on to.
The striker waited for Mannus to commit, and steered it past him into the far corner.
Jervis had a great chance to equalise but side-footed wide after the Sainst defence was cut open by a Graham Carey pass.
A replay was looking likely at this stage but Saints regained a grip on the match in the back end of the match.
Graham hit the bar and then missed the target after being put through by David Wotherspoon.
And in between times, Dave Mackay had sliced a volley wide.
You wouldn’t go quite as far as describing it as comfortable, but the Perth men saw the game out to secure their place in the last 16.