St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson will be the happier of the two managers as his side had to play out the final quarter of the match with only ten men after young full-back David Barron had been dismissed for two bookings.
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood will be far from pleased with his side that, despite wave upon wave of attacks during the second period, failed to carve out any clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities.
Aberdeen went close as early as the second minute. A Barry Nicholson corner found the head of Lee Miller who got away from his marker to nod just beyond the far post.
Sone Aluko looked in the mood and twice in the opening five minutes his pace took him away from Barron before playing in tremendous crosses which found no takers.
St Mirren shocked Aberdeen in the tenth minute when they took the lead. Billy Mehmet flicked the ball over Lee Mair before picking out the advancing Andy Dorman who took a touch before volleying home from 14 yards.
Minutes later a forceful run on the break caused the Dons defence some anxious moments before Will Haining blazed his effort well off-target.
Aberdeen's Chris Maguire used the decoy run of Alan Maybury to drift away from his marker in the 22nd minute before firing in a low left-foot shot which Chris Smith did well to hold at his near post.
Three minutes later Aluko drove at the visitors defence before playing the ball to Scott Severin whose driven shot from 25 yards was comfortably held by Smith.
Aberdeen were back on terms in the 29th minute. Nicholson's corner found the head of the unmarked Lee Mair who guided the ball home for his first goal for the home side.
The visitors suffered a major blow on 40 minutes when Mehmet, who had been their most prominent attacker, was forced off with a leg knock, his place going to Stewart Kean.
An early chance in the second half fell to St Mirren. Dorman fed the ball to Kean who, with a clear view of goal sliced his effort horribly wide.
It was Dorman who came close again on 64 minutes. He advanced on to a clever Kean knock-down only for Nicholson to get back and block the big midfielder's effort.
At the other end, minutes later, Nicholson showed his attacking instincts, latching on to Miller's pass before firing narrowly over from the edge of the penalty box.
Aluko then carried the ball 40 yards before playing the ball across the area to Severin whose first-time effort flashed just wide of the far post.
The visitors' backs-to-the-wall effort was not helped when they were reduced to ten men with 13 minutes left. Barron received a second yellow card for a stupid act of petulance.
The visitors did create a great chance on 80 minutes only to be denied by a tremendous stop from Aberdeen keeper Derek Soutar.
Franco Miranda's cross saw Kean drift across Andrew Considine to fire in a great shot which brought out fine reaction save from the home keeper at the expense of a corner.
In the closing minutes Smith pulled off a great save to deny Nicholson, diving bravely to grab the ball away from the Dons midfielder as he looked to score an unlikely late winner.