The 1-0 victory leaves Queen of South still stuck on no points but Ian McCall, their manager, said:" I thought we deserved something from this game - for our part it was a poor goal to lose".
But that goal in just ten minutes really came from the textbook as Goran Stanic weaved between two men before cutting the ball down the wing to Paul Sheerin. He trailed it to the touch-line before cutting-in and sending over a precision cross which gave Simon Mensing the simple chance of heading home.
The home side made a quick bid to draw level but the Saints defence was solid and never allowed them a clear-cut chance.
Referee Calum Murray had to quickly nip some "enthusiastic" tackling in the bud by producing the first two of six yellow cards, with a red at the end of the game for Queen of the South's Jim Lauchlan for pulling down Steve Milne.
The game centred very much in midfield with both defences giving little away, though Queen's keeper Barry-John Corr made the save of the day, diving-in to take the ball away from the feet of Martin Hardie. Tthen in the later stages he excelled again, touching a shot from Jason Scotland round the post.
The Duke's verdict - There was only going to be one goal in this dour encounter and unfortunately Saints grabbed the vital goal. There was very little between the teams with defences well on top. Queens nearly snatched a draw but Burns fired past in the closing minutes. Queens looked solid at the back but created very little up front but neither did Saints. The referee spoilt the game as he would not let the game flow and frequently held the game up for minor infringements.
Duke's Queen's man of the match - Paul Burns who put in a tremendous amount of work and refused to be bullied by some of the Saints players who resorted to downright thuggery at times.
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