PAUL HARTLEY was scratching his head as his battling Alloa side left Dumfries without a point.
It was a close encounter for long spells but table-topping Queens snatched the points with a 67th-minute goal from Nicky Clark.
Hartley said: “I thought we were going to get a point – there wasn’t much in it at all.
“We watched Queens in midweek against Dundee United and I thought they were excellent but today we nullified their two forwards.
“We can take plenty of positives from that performance.
“We defended very well and in the end lost to a scrappy goal.”
Clark had an early long-range strike tipped over by impressive Alloa keeper Scott Bain.
The Dumfries men were livid when Ben Gordon appeared to knock the ball out of Clark’s path with his hand when the striker had a clear run at goal but referee John Beaton waved away their appeals.
Bain turned Gavin Reilly’s looping header past the post just after the half-hour and had to be at his best again to stop Willie Gibson’s deflected cross finding the net.
Alloa finally caved in after 67 minutes. Bain denied Carmichael but couldn’t stop Clark netting from three yards.
Hartley’s men pressed but couldn’t force an equaliser as Queens maintained their unbeaten league record.
Palmerston boss Allan Johnston said: “It was a brilliant result considering how many games we have played recently.
“Alloa are a top side and they will definitely be up there challenging at the end of the season, so you have to give our boys a lot of credit. I could see they were tiring at the end but they kept going.”