QOS 2 Rankin (8), Lyle (36) RAITH ROVERS 1 Mvoto (60)

JOHN HUGHES saw his Raith Rovers side play second fiddle throughout the opening half then come back to just miss out on a chance to share the points.

In only his second game in charge of the Kirkcaldy side, he said: “Queens had much the better of the first half but much of that was selfinflicted on our part .

“I changed it around at the break and we were the better side after that.”

Queens took just eight minutes to break down the Kirkcaldy defence when a loose ball fell to John Rankin on the edge of the box and he drove it into the corner of the net for his first goal since joining the club a month ago.

Then a free-kick from Stephen Dobbie saw Andy Dowie rise above the defenders, but his header flashed just outside the upright with keeper Brennan well beaten.

The Dumfries men had all the early pressure and it was keeper Connor Brennan who saved Raith when he stopped an effort from Derek Lyle.

But the Dumfries men did stretch their lead 10 minutes from the interval when the ball was headed into the goalmouth by Joe Thomson and Lyle was on the spot to turn the ball home.

Just after the break Raith had their first real effort at goal when Jordan Thompson fired in a 20-yard drive only to see it go well wide.

Dobbie had the ball in the net again just on the hour, but it was ruled out for offside.

Raith gave themselves hope in 60 minutes when Jean-Yves M’Voto rose to head high into the net from close range.

And they suddenly started to pose a real threat.

Twice in the closing minutes it was only luck that kept the Dumfries goal intact as keeper Robinson saved one attempt and another went narrowly over the top.