Derek Lyle scored a hat-trick as Queen of the South cruised to a win at Championship strugglers Cowdenbeath on an absolutely appaling surface better suited to growing potatoes.
Lyle opened the scoring for Queens on the stroke of half-time, heading home Ian McShane's corner.
He then teed-up strike partner Gavin Reilly for his 11th goal this term and two minutes later Lyle lashed in his second before McShane added a fourth in the 61st minute from a Kevin Holt pass.
Lyle's third was a penalty after Thomas O'Brien fouled Iain Russell.
Queens jump into fourth place and with games in hand are challenging strongly for a play-off place.
This sets us up nicely for our cup clash with St Johnstone next Saturday.
Bookings (1) & Substitutions (5)
Cowdenbeath
- 17 Thomson
- 20 Miller
- 04 O'Brien
- 06 Wedderburn
- 32 Halsman (Adamson - 68' )
- 26 Marshall
- 19 Oyenuga
- 08 Milne
- 11 Herron Booked
- 09 Nish
- 15 Buchanan (Higgins - 59' )
Substitutes
- 03 Adamson
- 07 Robertson
- 10 Higgins
- 18 Brownlie
- 21 Johnston
- 25 Sneddon
- 28 Hughes
Queen of the South
- 01 Clark
- 04 Dowie
- 06 Higgins
- 05 Durnan
- 12 Kidd
- 18 McShane (Burns - 68' )
- 08 Millar
- 15 Paton
- 03 Holt
- 19 Lyle (Pickard - 81' )
- 10 Reilly (Russell - 74' )
Substitutes
- 02 Mitchell
- 07 Burns
- 11 Russell
- 17 Carmichael
- 20 Atkinson
- 22 Hooper
- 28 Pickard
Ref: Barry Cook
Att: 569
Images courtesy of Colin Johnstone and his team at Cowdenbeath - www.qosfc.com