St Mirren's incredible unbeaten home run came to a painful end as Elie Youan's second-half strike saw them suffer their first defeat on home soil since July.
The Buddies were hoping to make it 13 without a loss at a packed and expectant SMiSA Stadium. After squandering a couple of promising chances in an extremely blustery first half, the Saints found themselves behind after the break when Frenchman Youan found the bottom corner past a sprawling Trevor Carson.
Tony Watt and Thierry Small made their home debuts for St Mirren off the bench but couldn't inspire their new club to a comeback, with Stephen Robinson's side slipping down to sixth in the Premiership table on the back of the defeat. The Buddies do still have a game in hand on Hibs, who leapt above them into fifth spot.
Robinson resisted the temptation to tinker with a winning side, naming the exact same starting XI that beat Aberdeen on Wednesday night. New recruits Tony Watt and Thierry Small were both on the bench again, with Hibs minus star striker Kevin Nisbet and former Saints midfielders Kyle Magennis and Jake Doyle-Hayes. All three were missing through injury.
The visitors started brightly in the blustery conditions, with keeper Trevor Carson called into action early. He produced a strong save from Elie Youan's low drive after the forward was teed up nicely by winger Harry McKirdy. Mark O'Hara was next to come to the Buddies' rescue, pulling off a crucial block from James Jeggo's goal-bound effort.
It took 13 minutes for St Mirren to register their first effort, with O'Hara blazing a volley over the bar. Tanser then fired into David Marshall's arms from the edge of the box as they finally began to warm up.
Hibs suffered an early injury blow when McKirdy was forced off after making a routine clearance under pressure from Ryan Strain. He was replaced by Matthew Hoppe.
The conditions were threatening to spoil the game, with both sides struggling to get to grips with the swirling wind inside the SMiSA.
Main danced past his marker on the left wing in a rare attack on the ground. Alex Greive battled to get their first but the Hibs defence managed to clear the danger ahead of the New Zealand international.
The visitors were awarded a free-kick in a very promising position on the edge of the box just after the half hour mark, with Scott Tanser deemed to have fouled Aiden McGeady just on the edge of the box. McGeady dusted himself down before producing a sweet curling effort that was inches from finding the top corner with Carson sprawling.
Main drew a terrific near-post save from Marshall with a powerful left-foot effort as the game threatened to explode into life before the half-time whistle.
The powerful striker should have done much better when the Buddies capitalised on some dreadful Hibs defending. The in-form forward found himself in acres of space but could only blast well over the bar from just outside the box.
Saints had the wind on their side in the second half as they looked to pose Hibs more of a threat going forward.
Conrad Egan-Riley had Hibs first chance after the break, firing well wide in front of the visiting support.
Will Fish was almost floundering when a long ball bounced just over his head. He recovered just in time with a great recovery tackle to deny Greive, who was set to run clean through on goal.
On the hour mark Tanser went for the spectacular from O'Hara's cross, with his overhead kick sailing harmlessly over the bar.
Paul Hanlon went into the book for cynically taking out Greive as he looked to spring a counter-attack, with Tony Watt replacing the striker shortly after - making his home bow in Paisley.
Youan fired over the bar from a promising position as both teams looked for a late winner, with Thierry Small coming off the bench for the Buddies to try and give his new side a boost.
But it was Youan who eventually produced the killer blow. A long ball from Cadden found Hibs sub Ewan Henderson on the edge of the box, who in turn teed up the French forward to blast past Carson into the bottom corner.
While the Buddies huffed and puffed in their quest to find a leveller, in the end they couldn't muster up an equaliser to stop their impressive unbeaten streak going up in smoke.
The Saints return to action next weekend when they travel to Parkhead on Saturday to take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup.
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