Andy Dowie scored his second goal of the season in the 1-0 victory over Alloa on Saturday – much to the surprise of Jim McIntyre.

The Queens boss was full of praise for the defender as well as Chris Mitchell, the man who set up the Doonhamers winning goal.

And McIntyre also left Recreation Park ecstatic as Queens picked up 10 points out of 12 against the Wasps this season.

He said: “Andy shocked me by scoring to be honest! I think he scored once for me in three years for Dunfermline but when Chris Mitchell puts a ball in like he did and you’ve got height in your team you’ve always got a chance of scoring.

“It was a fantastic delivery and Andy met it flush so I’m delighted because when chances are at a premium it’s important you’ve got someone who can put a ball into an area like that and you can capitalize.

“I thought we started better and we controlled it for long periods of the game but our final pass and decision-making let us down at times.

“We didn’t want to sit back we wanted to get the next goal because that’s a dangerous game especially when you score early.

“It’s fair to say we maybe didn’t work the goalkeeper as much as we should have but I think we thoroughly deserved the three points.”

The Queens gaffer also insists that the Doonhamers will be taking each game as it comes as the play-off race will go right down to the last day.

Queens remain in fourth after Saturday’s win – three points in front of Dumbarton – with eight games to go in the season.

McIntyre said: “It’ll go right to the wire, you see the other results in the league today I think that shows it’ll go all the way.

“You’re always trying to chase the team above you and that’s what our objective is.

“But overall, I’m very pleased with a win here as it’s never easy when we visit Alloa, even though it wasn’t the best game of football we’ve ever seen.”

Alloa boss Barry Smith believed his side played some of their best football in a while, and on another day, they could have taken something from the Palmerston side.

He said: “I thought the boys deserved to get something and that’s as good as we’ve played since I’ve been here as we’ve created chances and we’ve had a good bit of possession.

“It’s disappointing to lose the goal in the manner we did but I think we did enough to take something from the game.”

Alloa now sit eighth in the table – five points clear of relegation – and Queens sit five points behind third placed Falkirk.

• Tomorrow on the Queens website - an interview with Andy Dowie