Queen of the South succumbed to only their second league defeat of the season as they fell 2-1 to seventh placed Stenhousemuir at Ochilview Park.

Queens dominated much of the contest but fell behind to a Darren Smith strike before Chris Mitchell bulleted in a sensational free-kick right on half-time before Sean Dickson headed the winner as the away side were caught by a counter-attack.

Queens manager Allan Johnston said: “I think that was cruel to be honest with you.  We absolutely battered them, they couldn`t get out of their own half in the second half, the one and only time they get out of their own half they managed to score.  We said that to them before the second half, we had to make to sure we didn`t get caught on the counter attack.

“We created enough chances to win probably three or four games, we just had to finish them off.  Most of this season we`ve done that, we`ve scored over a hundred goals this season.  It was just one of those nights.

“We don`t like to get beat.  You can see that the boys aren`t happy in the dressing room and it`s hard to criticise them after the season they have had but it`s important we get back to winning ways at the weekend and I`m sure the boys will be desperate to get a result.”