Queen of the South made it four wins on the spin as they ran out 3-2 winners over eighth-placed East Fife at Bayview. 

A first half lob from Gavin Reilly was equalised by a remarkably similar Paul McManus finish before Queens` top scorer Nicky Clark regained the lead and Mark Durnan wrapped up the points with a header on 69 minutes.  East Fife`s Liam Gormley made it a worrisome final few minutes as he halved the deficit with four minutes remaining but the Queens defence held on for a deserved victory.

Queens manager Allan Johnston: ““We made life a bit difficult for ourselves.  I think for the first goal we switched off thinking it was a free-kick.  I think that`s a lesson for our players that you have to play to the whistle.  It was one long ball over the top and everyone stopped and he`s [McManus] gone through and scored.  But you see the belief that the boys have: they just went straight up the park and scored.

“They passed the ball really well and I think it would have been really disappointing if we`d have dropped any points today.  We`ve not been like that.  We`ve only lost before this game 14 goals in the league so that`s only 16 conceded.  That shows you our defensive record and it`s frustrating losing two poor goals. 

“I`m pleased but I know that we can improve on that and we just have to work harder.”

Former Aberdeen player Michael Paton made his Queens debut coming on with 20 minutes remaining and his new gaffer was pleased with what he saw.

“He gives us more options, the more quality players we have the better.  He came on and did really well there, he was unlucky not to score.  He can play anywhere across the midfield or up front so he just gives us further options.”

Paton shoots goalwards