Two first-half goals were enough to give Queen of the South victory against Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship.
The Doonhamers started brighly and Gavin Reilly headed Queens ahead on 6 minutes and Ian McShane's strike doubled the hosts' advantage in the 18th minute.
Russell also missed a sitter to more or less finish the game but mishit his shot when right in front of goal.
Queens took their foot off the gas in the second period as Nacho Novo, Jonathan Page, Joe McKee and Tony Wallace all threatened as bottom club Morton tried to work their way back into the match.
However Queen's defence with Higgins and Durnan outstanding were in no mood to surrender their advantage and restricted the visitors to half chances.
Queens still threatened and Reilly,Carmichael and Paul Burns came close to adding a third for Queens.
A welcome victory for Queens with several good performances and it great to see Paul Burns back after a lengthy injury.
The future looks brighter for Queens and with several strange results elsewhere they stand a good chance of challenging for a spot in the top half of the table.
Images courtesy of www.qosfc.com