Most of the quality football in the first half came from the visitors with Simon Lappin threatening with a swerving left-foot shot from long range and Brian McGinty rounding off a counter attack with an angled drive which was tipped over.
Clyde's top scorer Ian Harty wasted a half chance on the turn after 29 minutes and Mark Gilhaney saw his low effort blocked by the legs of goalkeeper Craig Hinchcliffe.
But St Mirren continued to control the game and Bryn Halliwell had to make a brilliant one-handed stop to scoop away a header from Kirk Broadfoot.
Defender Jon Potter and substitute Kevin Bradley both fired wildly over early in the second half as the home side finally enjoyed a brief spell on top.
With 20 minutes left Scott Wilson's header clipped the top of the St Mirren crossbar, but the Buddies were still carving out chances and striker Allan Russell brought the best out of Halliwell with a fine looping header.
Halliwell produced an even better save to deny Broadfoot's left-foot chip with five minutes to go and even when he was beaten by Russell in the final minute, the striker's shot smashed back off the woodwork.