It was a great start to the year for Queens as two goals in the second half were enough to earn the three points for the Doonhamers at the Tony Macaroni Arena.t was an all round solid performance from James Fowler`s men who had to wait until the 65th minute to open the scoring thanks to a Derek Lyle tap in and was followed by a great goal from Iain Russell 12 minutes later to make sure the Doonhamers had the perfect start to 2016.

Queens made two changes to the side that were harshly defeated 1-0 at Easter Road two weeks ago, Gary Oliver and Alex Harris returned to the starting eleven replacing Ryan Conroy and Derek Lyle, who had been struggling with an injury leading up to the fixture.

Since Queens` last fixture, a lot has changed at Livingston. The West Lothian outfit sacked manager Mark Birchill after guiding them to one off the bottom of the pile. David Hopkin has been placed in temporary charge and has managed two away fixtures during the Christmas period with mixed fortunes, an impressive 4-1 win at St Mirren Park and a 1-0 defeat to high flying Falkirk. This was Hopkin`s opportunity to impress the home faithful.

The three previous encounters between the sides this season has seen the visitors leaving with victories on each occasion. Queens were looking for their first victory since early November when Queens won 1-0 against Dumbarton at Palmerston.

Queens started brightly and after nice crisp exchanges between Russell and Oliver the ball fell to Kyle Hutton on the edge of the penalty box but he couldn`t connect fully with the ball and sliced his shot wide of the goal.

The Doonhamers continued to pressure early on as Iain Russell found space in the hosts half and lined up a stirke from 25 yards out but his attempt was always going wide and failed to test Darren Jamieson in the Livingston goal. It was an encouraging start from the visitors who looked sharp considering they haven`t played competitively for two weeks.

The hosts finally got themselves into the match after winning a succession of corners and after the second attempt they finally troubled the Queens` defence. Captain Declan Gallagher rose above Higgins but his header was always rising above the crossbar. The home side were looking dangerous and after White winning a corner from a brilliant run at Dowie they had another chance but Queens` stern defence cleared the ball to safety without really being put under a serious amount of pressure. 

Higgins gets the better of Gallagher

Both sides continued to look for the opening goal and this time Queens had a great chance to take the lead after Mark Millar inch perfect cross found Kyle Hutton but his long range shot trickled wide of the goal.

Queens were bombarding the hosts and after Mullen`s dirty challenge on Kidd, Millar`s free-kick was headed by Dowie into the feet of Harris at the edge of the box and he cross found Hutton who slipped the ball to Jacobs but the South African sliced his effort off target.

The Doonhamers were cursing their luck when Higgins passed the ball to Oliver in the box and at an acute angle fired his shot at Jamieson and the goalkeeper could only tip his effort around the post. From the following corner it was Alex Harris`s turn to try and break the deadlock. He positioned himself superbly outside the box but his powerful strike was just a couple of inches high of the bar.

On the half hour mark, Russell`s cross found Millar but his shot was blocked by Ben Gordon and cleared to safety. Former Livingston man Russell looked a threat all afternoon and after nice footwork Gordon fouled Russell forcing referee William Collum to caution the centre back.

Russell shrugs off the attention of Gallagher

Russell was running the show for the Doonhamers and he linked up with Harris but his shot lacked pace and was parried away by Jamieson. Russell seemed to be all over the pitch and was by far the best player on the park causing the Livingston defence endless problems.

Queens were let off lightly in the 38th minute as Liam Buchanan found space behind Higgins but he couldn`t get his strike on target as it fizzled wide of the post.

William Collum brought an end to proceedings after a meaty challenge from Kyle Hutton on Faria and to everyones surprise no booking from the referee.

A promising first half from the visitors even though they couldn`t find the break through which frustrated the travelling support.

The hosts started the second half brightly from the off, Jordan White used his pace to get past Higgins but the Queens captain used his experience and made a last ditch tackle to concede a corner. 

Livingston were beginning to turn the screw and when Jacobs was booked for a late challenge on Jackson Longridge five minutes and from the resulting free-kick found Glen but his header failed to find the target. 

Queens finally came to life in the 55th minute after a sluggish start to the second half after an adventurous run from Iain Russell, he passed to Kyle Jacobs and he should have done better as Jamieson made a comfortable save from his tame effort.

After a succession of corners for Queens, the home side counter attacked and the fresh Hippolyte, who came on only moments earlier, looked poised to have a shot but a superb tackle from Higgins made sure the substitute wouldn`t have an instant impact.

Queens made their first change of the afternoon, the on-loan Alex Harris off for top goalscorer Derek Lyle and his introduction was the defining moment of the match. The Doonhamers finally got the goal they deserved in the 65th minute after Gary Oliver won the battle of pace against Gordon and left the goal on a plate to Derek Lyle after squaring the ball to The Tan Man to knock home his seventh Championship goal of the season.

Lyle beats Jamieson to open the scoring

The home outfit reacted well to going a goal beind and used the pace of Hippolyte well to create problems for the Queens defence but to no avail as they couldn`t find a way to trouble Thomson in the Queens goal.

Queens added a second of the afternoon in the 77th minute when Iain Russell placed his shot from just inside the box into the bottom right hand corner of Jamieson`s net to the delight of the travelling Doonhamers.

Iain Russell finishes in style

With a two goal cushion Queens started to put their foot off the gas and four minutes after Russell`s goal, Sheerin found himself space in the Queens box and his fierce stirke looked destined for the back of net until Robbie Thomson made an outstanding save denying the home side the goal that they needed to get back into the game. 

Queens held on for the all important victory and with play-offs rivals Raith Rovers and Greenock Morton both losing, it has been a successful new year for the Doonhamers.