Queen of the South put all thoughts of their upcoming Scottish Cup final appearance behind them as they turned on the style to beat Partick Thistle 2-0, and go back into the fourth spot in the table that manager Gordon Chisholm has been aiming for.

Stephen Dobbie created the first chance when he picked up the ball on the edge of the area and turned two defenders before firing in a shot which Jonny Tuffey stopped but couldn't hold and was happy to see it mopped up by his defenders.

Dobbie had the Partick goalkeeper stretched again with a shot from just outside the box, then Sean O'Connor came close with a header after a cross from Ryan McCann had gone beyond the defence.

Thistle were getting little joy from the Queens defence and their best effort at this stage was a 25-yard drive from Steven McKeown which caused little trouble to goalkeeper Stephen Grindlay. However, the visitors gradually forced their way into the game and Mark Roberts tested the Dumfries keeper with an angular drive which he did well to hold.

At the other end, only a fine save by Tuffey at almost point-blank range kept Dobbie from breaking the deadlock.

Both sides were aiming for that fourth spot in the table taken by Dunfermline at the weekend while they were both on cup duty but both defences were playing a tight game.

Queens pressed for a quick breakthrough after the turnaround and first Tuffey saved a shot from Dobbie with his legs, then the striker set up substitute John Stewart but his shot went just wide.

Queens finally broke the deadlock in 57 minutes when a cross from Dobbie was swept into the net from close range by the on-loan Falkirk striker.

Partick tried to respond as they thrust forward and forced a couple of corners in succession as they hemmed Queens in for a spell. Simon Donnelly was unlucky with a raking drive from the edge of the box which beat the keeper but went just outside the post, and it was Queens who made the points safe with a second goal in 74 minutes.

The Thistle defence only half-cleared the ball from an attack and Bob Harris, the left-back, cracked it home from 15 yards.