Saints started the stronger at a freezing cold St Mirren Park and could have opened the scoring inside two minutes when Stephen Mallan's cross found the head of Arquin.

The Martinique international did well to divert towards the Dundee goal but keeper Scott Bain produced a fine save to stop the ball nestling in the bottom corner.

Pressure on the Dundee back line eventually took its toll and with the half-time whistle on the horizon the home side took the lead.

Kenny McLean, so often the Saints hero this season, picked up Mallan's pass 25 yards from goal before unleashing a low zipping effort beyond Bain and into the bottom right hand corner.

Despite more than holding their own against the visitors in the first half Saints struggled to deal with Dundee's increased attacking threat in the second.

Dundee quickly levelled proceedings through Gary Irvine in 53 minutes, giving the visitors the momentum to press for a winner.

It arrived through Iain Davidson whose deflected effort looped over Mark Ridgers and into the top corner to make the score 2-1 with only 20 minutes remaining.

Things then turned sour for Saints when Arquin was shown a second yellow for simulation in the 80th minute, all but extinguishing any hope of a late fightback.