Iain Russell's close-range strike has given Queen of the South a 1-0 lead away at Dumbarton this afternoon.

The visitors had an early chance through Mark Millar, but his goalbound effort struck teammate Derek Lyle, who was stood in an offside position.

Dumbarton goalkeeper Mark Brown was called into action on 11 minutes when he got down quickly to push Andy Dowie's effort around the post, and it was the visitors who started the brighter of the two teams.

James Fowler's men went close through Lyle, who curled a shot just wide from the edge of the area just after the 15-minute mark.

Scott Taggart was next to try his luck for Dumbarton, but his weak left-footed effort was comfortably held by Robbie Thomson in the QoS goal.

Russell put his side in front with less than five minutes of the first half remaining when he poked home after Sons failed to clear their lines.