Lewis Morgan scored twice as St Mirren clinched their seventh home win in a row over Queen of the South.

Despite an early scare when the Doonhammers’ Derek Lyle had a goal called offside, Cammy Smith and man-of-the-match Morgan both scored to put the Buddies in a commanding position at the break.

Morgan then grabbed his second of the afternoon with a 25-yard bullet in the second half before Kerr headed in what proved to be a consolation goal for the visitors.

The win means the Buddies remain on Dunfermline’s tail in second position in the Scottish Championship.

On a soggy afternoon in Paisley Saints handed new boy Jamie McCart his debut after he signed on loan from Celtic earlier in the week and Josh Todd got his first start of the season.

The visitors had the first chance of the game after nine minutes as Stephen Dobbie galloped into the box to put it across the goal for Derek Lyle who tapped it in but the flag went up.

Saints then had their own chance to go ahead as skipper Stephen McGinn showed great skills to find Jack Baird in the box but his shot was wild and it went way over the crossbar.

But after Queens’ Shaun Rooney gave away a free-kick just inside their half, Ian McShane’s delivery eventually ended up at the feet of Smith who put it through the legs of keeper Alan Martin to put Saints ahead just before the half-hour mark.

And just moments later Morgan made it 2-0 with a great drilled finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

After the break Todd’s debut was unfortunately cut short as he went off injured to be replaced by Ross Stewart.

But this didn’t seem to dent the Buddies’ spirits as Morgan scored his second after 55 minutes from long range to ensure the hosts had the three points firmly in their grasp.

Queens threatened to launch a comeback though with just under half-an-hour to go as Kerr headed one in to keep his side in the match.

The Doonhammers captain John Rankin then almost reduced the gap to one with a strong long-range effort which went inches wide.

The visitors continued to try and grab a second as Samson was forced into a good save from a Fordyce strike before Smith almost set up Morgan for a hat-trick after 81 minutes but he couldn’t quite get a foot on it.

Saints play Brechin City next at the Paisley 2021 Stadium on Saturday. Kick-off is at 3pm.