Queen of the South secured their fourth home win of the season in the Scottish Championship as they upset promotion hopefuls Inverness 2-1.

Josh Todd’s early opener for Queens was cancelled out by Logan Chalmers, but Euan East’s free-kick snapped the home side’s six-game losing run.

Darragh O’Connor had twice threatened for Queens before Todd raced on to Ruben Soares-Junior’s long ball to open the scoring in the sixth minute.

Inverness equalised 11 minutes later through on-loan Dundee United forward Chalmers, who beat two defenders on the edge of the area before crashing home his fifth goal in as many games.

East regained the lead for Queens five minutes before half-time, curling home a free-kick into the top corner after Sean Welsh had fouled Soares-Junior.

Inverness boss Billy Dodds, whose side secured a play-off place last week, sent on all four substitutes by the 73rd minute, but the closest they got to an equaliser was when Chalmers rifled a shot over in the 82nd minute.

Queens went close to extending their lead when Danny Devine cleared Soares-Junior’s last-minute effort off the goal-line.