qos 4 Dobbie (12, 77), Doyle (45), Maguire (65) ross county 0

It was a delighted Gary Naysmith who marked up his 100th game in charge at Palmerston by seeing his side trounce league leaders Ross County 4-0.

He said: “It couldn’t have been better, but it was down to the players with everyone working hard . . . they played well and with confidence – and we’re on a decent bit of form.”

And he added: “With seven points out of nine against Ross County, Ayr and Inverness, it’s a very good return, but we’ve got the smallest squad in the league and it’s working for us at the moment, so we’ll enjoy it while we can.”

Stephen Dobbie opened the scoring in 12 minutes when Nicky Low slipped the ball through the defence for the striker to run in and fire the ball past the helpless keeper.

County hit back and were unlucky not to level the scoreline when Lewis Spence saw a shot go outside the upright with the keeper struggling.

But, right on the 45-minute mark, Queens did go two up when Michael Doyle ran onto a pass from Dobbie to steer the ball past the keeper.

The pace was kept up after the break with Michael Gardyne seeing a shot scraping the bar and Josh Todd shooting just wide at the other end.

Both goals seemed to bear charmed lives until 65 minutes when County failed to clear a corner from Scott Mercer and Barry McGuire marked his debut by smashing it home from close range.

County didn’t have far to seek further troubles seconds later when Josh Mullin was redcarded following a harsh tackle.

And Queens took full advantage in 77 minutes when Dobbie added No. 4 to complete County’s misery.

County co-manager Steven Ferguson admitted: “Queens were better than us and we just weren’t good enough . . . it’s hugely disappointing and we’ll look at ourselves. There are still a lot of games to go.”