Queens held off a late fightback from Dundee to edge a seven-goal thriller as the Doonhamers kicked off their Championship campaign in fine style.
Queens sarted brightly and made several openings before summer signing Peter MacDonald gave Dundee the lead when his right-footed effort beat Calum Antell and nestled in the bottom-left corner on 7 minutes..
The goal came against the run of play but Queens continued to dominate and got their just reward when Derek Lyle who had been subjected to abuse from the Dee fans, levelled for the hosts as he nodded in a Chris Mitchell free-kick on the stroke of half-time.
Queens turned on the style after the break and Ryan McGuffie brilliantly stroked home a penalty to put Queens ahead on 59 minutes.
Queens were in full cry now and with the Portland end in good voice, the brilliant Russell put the hosts 3-1 up on 63 minutes. Seven minutes later Michael Paton found the net to leave the home fans in dreamland.
Queens were now carving Dundee up at will and could have added several more goals but the game took a dramatic twist when Declan Gallacher managed to head home despite the close attention of the Queens defence. Iain Davidson set up a nervy finish as he capitalised on an error by Queen's goalie Antell but the Doonhamers held on for a deserved win.
For most of this game Queens were quite superb with Paton and Russell in outstanding form. There will be questions on the defensive lapses towards the end and this will have to be addressed in training but in the end we secured two points against one of the favourites for the league.
Man of the Match - Iain Russell - In superb form
Source: PA
Image by Sandy Robertson
Image by Sandy Robertson
Image by Brian Murphy
Image by Sandy Robertson
Source: PA