Goalkeeper Colin Scott was the Queen of the South hero as his brilliant individual display, plus a first-half strike from Brian McLaughlin, helped the visitors to their second win this season over Airdrie.
Scott made his first important save from Marvyn Wilson in the seventh minute and from the corner kick Frenchman Jerome Vareille missed a terrific chance from six yards.
Eight minutes later only another spectacular stop from Scott kept out a powerful downward header from Vareille.
Airdrie had to reorganise following the loss, due to a clash of heads, of defenders Paul Lovering and Neil McGowan, although the next scoring opportunity fell to the Diamonds when Stephen Docherty again brought the best out of Scott.
Queen of the South suddenly found gaps in the home team's new-look defence and after Brian McLaughlin had been let down by poor control, the former Celtic winger got it absolutely right in the 35th minute as he fired a low left-foot finish into the far corner of the net.
He should have made it 2-0 early in the second half after David McNiven's shot was parried but the follow-up from McLaughlin was weak and was hacked off the line by Mark Roberts.
At the other end Scott produced two more top-class saves from Stephen McKeown and Kevin Christie.