Queen of the South 1-2 Inverness Caledonian Thistle: Mckay double lifts visitors to second
- Published
Billy Mckay scored twice and was denied a hat-trick by the crossbar
Two Billy Mckay goals secured Inverness Caledonian Thistle a victory away to Queen of the South that lifts them up to second in the Scottish Championship.
Mckay opened the scoring from the penalty spot when strike partner Shane Sutherland was upended by defender Roberto Ndtiti after 19 minutes.
David Carson's cross was flicked on by the head of Mckay for his 11th goal of the season shortly after the break.
Forward Lee Connelly slotted his seventh of the season in reply.
But Caley Thistle survived late pressure to deservedly end their run of five games without a victory, extend their run to five without defeat away from home and leave Palmerston Park unbeaten in their latest 10 visits.
Billy Dodds' side move to within a point of leaders Kilmarnock, who host Arbroath on Saturday, and two ahead of Raith Rovers, who entertain Greenock Morton, and leave Queens second bottom without a win in seven outings.
Queen of the South boss Allan Johnston: "I thought we were bullied over the park. I think we've got better quality than we showed tonight.
"We've got to go again and get a response. There's no point feeling sorry for ourselves. We've got good young players, but teams like that are maybe just more streetwise."
Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Billy Dodds: "Relief - but I thought well-deserved. I thought we played well throughout the match, but as I said before the game, it's just the way it's been going recently - we've been playing well but not seeing games out.
"But tonight we did pretty well, but we had a wee scare with 15 minutes to go or so but think we deserved it over the piece. We had chances to kill it off that we missed and Mark Ridgers had a great save too."