St Mirren avoided being the victims of another giant killing as they defeated Dumbarton 3-0 to move into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

Saints were sent crashing out of the CIS Insurance Cup by Third Division outfit East Fife back in August but there was no shock on the cards at Love Street today.

Goals from Mark Corcoran, David Barron and Billy Mehmet sealed a comfortable victory in front of 2,828 fans who had braved the cold to watch the action in Paisley.

Dumbarton have endured a turbulent season so far which saw them part company with manager Gerry McCabe in November and slide to second bottom of the Third Division.

Jim Chapman was installed as new boss on New Year's Eve and immediately guided his new charges to a win over Albion Rovers in his only other game at the helm so far. But he would have been aware that an upset was unlikely today.

With Davie Craig's season all but over through injury, Chapman shored up his defence ahead of the trip to Love Street by signing centre-half Grant Evans on loan from Hamilton Academical yesterday.

Evans was drafted straight into the starting line-up, along with Sean Kerr and Kenneth Haswell, replacing the injured Chris Gentile, Ryan Russell and Paul McQuilken.

St Mirren made two changes from the side who defeated Hibernian in the SPL, with Craig Dargo making only his second start and Corcoran also earning a place the starting XI, with those adjustments at the expense of Stewart Kean and Garry Brady.

Unsurprisingly, Saints dominated from the outset and carved out the first chance of the game with just three minutes on the clock when Corcoran whipped a cross in from the left and Mehmet dragged his shot just wide of the upright.

Dargo then found himself one on one with David Crawford but the Dumbarton goalkeeper stood tall to block the point-blank effort before Mark Canning cleared the danger.

Sons did not look like posing much of a threat at the other end and an audacious shot from 40 yards from Brian McPhee did little to trouble Chris Smith in the Saints goal.

The breakthrough came after 17 minutes. The Dumbarton defence failed to deal with a David Van Zanten cross from the right and he set up Corcoran for the close range drive at the near post. Crawford got a touch but failed to keep the ball out of the net.

However, the Sons shot-stopper went someway to atoning for the opener when he threw himself in front of Dargo's powerful diving header moments later and did well to smother the effort.

The injury-plagued Dargo is still searching for his first goal since his summer switch from Inverness and he was given a lesson in finishing by youth product Barron.

The youngster pounced on a loose ball from Corcoran's corner and rifled a thunderous right-footed shot past the helpless Crawford from 25 yards to claim his first senior goal for the Paisley club seven minutes before the break.

Saints squandered the chance to build on their advantage shortly after the restart when Corcoran exchanged a one-two with Dargo before setting up Mehmet for the shot but his effort cannoned off a yellow jersey and the chance was lost.

Dumbarton had made a double switch four minutes into the second half, with Yule and Haswell making way for Andrew Geggan and Ryan Russell, and the latter forced a decent save from Smith to earn a corner.

However, the Third Division battlers failed to capitalise on the set-piece and the home crowd were lifted soon after by the sight of Andy Dorman making his Saints debut following his move from MLS side New England Revolution.

The tie was well and truly over as a contest with 20 minutes to go when Mehmet collected a Dargo ball on the edge of the 18-yard box and lashed home Saints' third of the day.

Crawford appeared to have the shot covered at the post, again getting a decent touch, but was clearly overcome by the power of the strike and fumbled the ball into the net.

Chapman clearly thought his keeper could have done better and Crawford was hooked within two minutes for replacement goalie Anton Nugent who managed to keep a clean-sheet for the remainder of the match.

Teams:

St Mirren Smith, Barron, Haining, Potter, Maxwell, Burke (Dorman 61), Mason, van Zanten (McGinn 88), Corcoran,Mehmet (Kean 88), Dargo.

Subs Not Used: Howard, Miranda.

Goals: Corcoran 17, Barron 38, Mehmet 70.

Dumbarton Crawford (Nugent 72), Yule (Geggan 49), Potter, Canning, Haswell (Russell 49), Hamilton, Tiernan, Evans,Brittain, McPhee, Kerr.

Subs Not Used: Coyne, McNaught.

Att: 2,814

Ref: A Muir (Scotland).