Manager Jim Goodwin admitted the scoreline flattered his team after St Mirren defeated Partick Thistle 4-1 in the Betfred Cup.
The Premiership side were second best for long spells of the game before two late goals eased them to victory.
Goodwin said: "Of course it's great to get back to winning ways. I don't think we'll get a huge amount of credit for that tonight and we probably shouldn't. We're the Premiership team playing against lower league opposition so we're expected to turn up and win the game comfortably.
"The scoreline will suggest we did that for people who weren't here but Partick were excellent on the night. They deserved a huge amount of credit. The scoreline flatters us slightly but I think we did enough to win the game.
"Thistle were very dangerous on the break and caused us problems. The fitness levels probably showed in the last 20 minutes and the changes that we made made a difference as well.
"As a group we'll look back at the things we did and the things we can improve on. Against better opposition we might have got punished more. That's something we can't allow to happen in future. We need to be more organised when we're on the attack."
Richard Tait gave the Premiership side the lead against the run of play just before half-time and Blair Spittal equalised midway through the second half.
Jon Obika put Saints back in front and then an own goal from Rhys Breen before a Dylan Connolly strike made it comfortable for Goodwin's men.
Thistle manager Ian McCall felt his team had played well despite the scoreline.
He said: "If it had been 4-1 to us it wouldn't have flattered us. It's not often you come to a Premiership team and have 13 good chances.
"For our first game of the season we were terrific – it's just a poor result. We want to do well in this cup and if we had come off 2-1 I would have been gutted. And 4-1 is a totally false reflection of the game."
