Queens notched back-to-back league wins following Saturday’s 4-1 demolition of Cowdenbeath – and James Fowler insists there will be plenty of “twists and turns” in the play-off race.

Goals from Iain Russell and Michael Paton looked to have the Doonhamers on easy street until Sean Higgins pulled one back for Jimmy Nicholl’s side.

Super-subs Mark Durnan and Derek Lyle sealed all three points as they leapt off the bench to propel Queens to two points behind third place Rangers.

But the gaffer insists all the focus is on finishing in the top four – regardless of where that may be.

Fowler said: “We’ve said we want to finish in the top four all season and wherever we finish in there is good.

“Falkirk are still on our coattails and we’re conscious of that but we are looking up. If we can pick up the points then it’ll add to the pressure but we’re not looking to set any other targets.

“The target at the start of the season was the top four and if we can get there that’s excellent.

“I’ve said there will be a lot of twists and turns and it’s important we look after ourselves.

“We’re confident in the squad we have and our ability but maybe you need a little bit of luck. Hopefully we can get that between now and the end of the season and finish in the top four.”

Fowler also revealed Mark Durnan was close to missing out on his chance to score with his first touch – and praised the defender and Derek Lyle for coming on and scoring after a flat first 45 minutes.

He said: “I was going to leave Vinnie until after the corner but then I thought ‘I’ll just stick him on’. Then he’s got on the end of a cross and finished it.

“We know what Del is all about and he’s maybe a bit unfortunate not to have featured a wee bit more recently. It’s a squad game and we’ll look forward to Tuesday and if we need to freshen up we’ll do that.

“The first half felt a bit like a pre-season game with the sun being out but the pitch was kind of sticky and the game was a little flat at times.

“Cowdenbeath were sitting in and dictated the tempo a little bit but we got there in the end thankfully.”

Meanwhile, Cowdenbeath boss Jimmy Nicholl bemoaned his side’s lack of conviction as they made it five games without a win.

He said: “I thought we recovered from going a goal down and we were still in the game then we shot ourselves in the foot with horrific defending second half.

“It’s the same thing time after time and we never gave ourselves a chance to win the game.”

Queens travel to Stark’s Park on Tuesday to face Raith Rovers in a 7:45 pm kick-off.