Queen of the South 2 St. Mirren 1

Last updated : 02 October 2004 By Footymad Previewer

A couple of records went in this game – Saints' unbeaten league run and the first home victory of the season for Queen of the South.

And it was a game which had the fans on their feet from start to finish as both teams served up 90 minutes of effort, skill and three great goals.

Queens opened the scoring after just five minutes when Tommy English broke down the left and his cross was headed past the diving Craig Hinchcliffe by Paul Burns.

And the Dumfries men went two up eight minutes later when Brian McLaughlin nipped in to take a rebound from a Saints player just outside the box, worked his way past a couple of defenders and chipped it across for David McNiven to slam it into Hinchcliffe's right-hand corner.

There was a blow for Queens after 58 minutes when the influential Paul Burns had to be carried off on a stretcher after going down in a tackle.

Saints piled on a spell of tremendous pressure as they chased that 2-0 deficit and they were unlucky when a free-kick from Ricky Gillies beat the Dumfries defence and Kirk Broadfoot's header rebounded from the bar.

And then another effort by Saints saw a header from Broadfoot cleared off the line by David Bagan, and again it was Bagan who headed off the line as a corner was deflected goalwards.

But the pressure paid off after 77 minutes when substitute John Baird turned on a loose ball in the box and saw his shot deflected into the net.