Injuries caused one surprising change to the Saints lineup, with Hamilton coming in for Dargo. With Billy Mehmet also missing, Tom Brighton made a rare appearance on the bench.
Going by the reports, this was a thoroughly deserved victory, with Andy Dorman doing particularly well. The midfielder went close twice in the first half, as did Stephen McGinn, before Saints went in front just before the break. Robert Olejnik failed to hold Jack Ross' shot and Hamilton was on hand to tap the ball in. Far too often when this happens we don't have players waiting to pounce - or they miss - so fair play to Hamilton for being there.
It looked as if we'd have it easy when Jackie McNamara was sent off for a straight red card after a foul on Hamilton, but as we showed against Hearts a few weeks ago we struggle against ten men. Sure enough, Falkirk levelled just after the hour mark when Mark Howard flapped at former Buddie Burton O'Brien's free-kick and Steve Lovell slotted home the rebound - despite the assistant's flag being up for offside!
Fortunately, with just over 15 minutes left, Dorman went on a fine run before passing to Wyness. You'd have thought after last week that would have been a silly thing to do, but Wyness fired home for his first Saints goal and his first since October last year.
Falkirk produced a cavalry charge and looked to have equalised through a Darren Barr header, but the assistant referee decided it hadn't crossed the line. Perhaps he was annoyed about being overulled earlier.
This was a much, much needed win for Saints and, thanks to Hamilton being hammered 7-1 by Rangers, it lets us move off the bottom. With home games against Accies and Inverness Caley Thistle to come in the next few weeks, as well as a trip to Kilmarnock, today's win is the perfect way to start this important run of fixtures.