Last updated on .From the section Scottish Championship

Gary Oliver scored as Queen of the South beat Ayr United

Queen of the South picked up their first Championship win in four games by beating Ayr at Palmerston Park.

Kevin Holt opened the scoring for the hosts with a low shot following a fine passing move involving Stephen Dobbie and Darren Lyon.

Michael Moffat fired home Craig Moore's knockdown to equalise.

Connor Murray restored the lead from 12 yards before Gary Oliver wrapped up the points for by slotting home Scott Mercer's cutback.

Ayr's misery was compounded moments later when Luke McCowan was sent off with 12 minutes remaining.

Referee Don Robertson waived away strong penalty appeals when Dobbie went down in the box, before Luke McCowan was ordered off for a wild challenge on Oliver as Ayr slipped to their first defeat in three matches.

'A terrific performance' - reaction

Queen of the South manager Allan Johnston: "That was a terrific performance and result for us today - some of our play was exceptional in the second period and we thoroughly deserved the win.

"We have a lot of good players and when we play like that we can be exciting to watch. That was the real Queen of the South today and we have to set that standard every week now.

"We need to make this a hard place for teams to come and play. It is impossible to call results in this division, but if we play to that standard we are not going to be far away."

Ayr United manager Mark Kerr: "We are disappointed with the goals we lost today, and while it is not the best surface we did look good at times.

"Nobody can say they are going to Queens and they will simply take the three points, but it got a bit scrappy and we caused our own problems which is disappointing.

"There were times today when we looked like we were trying to play too much football, but we have to be in the pack at the top and we just need to keep working for the results."