East goes from hero to zero as Queens relegated

WITH 10 minutes remaining, Euan East had given Queen of the South hope of avoiding the drop to League One.

Seven minutes later, though, East had sent the Palmerston outfit crashing through the trapdoor.

The centre-back found the net at both ends of the pitch late on against Ayr United and with Queens needing three points to keep their survival dream alive, a 1-1 draw was not enough.

Sam Ashford was sent clean through in the first minute for Ayr but shot straight at Queens goalkeeper Joshua Rae. Ashford spurned another good chance moments later by spooning the ball over the bar from close range.

Willie Gibson’s side rallied, however, and Alex Cooper saw an effort clip the post. In the second half, Tomi Adeloye hit the bar for Ayr, while Ruari Paton did likewise for Queens as the tension increased. East opened the scoring on 80 minutes for the hosts after being set up by Paton to give Queens hope of survival. However, he quickly became the villain seven minutes later, turning a Kerr McInroy strike into his own net and consigned the hosts to League One for next season.

Elsewhere, Raith Rovers retained hope of reaching the Premiership play-offs after a 2-0 victory at Hamilton Accies. The Kirkcaldy club Raith are still three points behind Partick Thistle — 1-0 winners over Dunfermline at Firhill — heading into the final game of the season at home against champions Kilmarnock on Friday night.

Ben Williamson put Raith ahead after 11 minutes, finishing off a counter-attack.

John McGlynn’s side had the ball in the net for a second time at the end of the first half when Matej Poplatnik turned home a cross but was ruled out for offside.

Raith did get their second goal after the break, however, when Williamson held off a challenge from Daniel O’Reilly before slotting beyond Accies goalkeeper Ryan Fulton.

Meanwhile, Roddy MacGregor scored the winner for Inverness Caley Thistle as they defeated Morton 1-0 to secure their play-off place.