Gus MacPherson last night urged his Queen’s Park battlers to use their win over Ladbrokes League Two table-toppers Elgin City at Hampden as a springboard for a promotion push.

A first half goal from David Galt and two second-period strikes from Jamie McKernon and an own goal from Elgin keeper Mark Hurst staved off any hopes of a fightback from the Highlanders.

And Spiders boss MacPherson was delighted with the performance his sie.

He said: “We were up against a very good Elgin side, who have already shown their title credentials this seasons.

“We knew we would have to match them in ever area of the field and that’s what we did.

“We are a good team and I think we showed that today. Now we have to try to maintain this firm and this kind of consistency for the rest of the season.

And if we do there is no reason why we can’t be up there challenging for promotion.

“That is what we all want, the management and the players. I was delighted with them today.

“Especially since we had a couple of key players out through injury - Gavin Mitchell and Tony Ralston. We’re having to make do and mend a bit at the moment.”

Queen’s broke the deadlock in the first half thanks to Galt's strike.

And they doubled their advantage in the 59th minute when McKernon’s long range-shot left Hurst flailing.

Both team were reduced to ten men after Elgin’s Mark Nicholson and Queen’s Chris Duggan both received second yellow cards.

And Connor McLaren’s strike pulled one goal back for the visitors to give them a flicker of hope.

But any hopes of a comeback were snuffed out thanks to a bizarre own goal.

Hurst let a throw-in from Matt Cooper trundle under his foot and into the net to make it 3-1 for Queen’s Park- a result that lifts them to fourth, just a point behind the Highland pacesetters.

In the other League two game, a Kevin Smith goal was enough to give East Fife all three points against Clyde at Methil.

But Clyde manager Barry Ferguson was adamant his side didn’t deserve to come away empty handed. He said: “Apart from the first 15 minutes, I thought we were the better side.

“But they know themselves they didn’t start at the tempo we are used to. But I got a reaction and we came into the game towards the end of the first half. And then we dominated the second half.

“So we’re disappointed but we’ll dust ourselves down and get on with it.”