John McGlynn praised the character of his Raith Rovers team after they came from behind to win at Queen of the South.
Rovers were a goal down at the break after Kevin Smith one of three former Raith players in the Queens line-up smashed home a 44th-minute penalty.
However, a John Baird double and Brian Graham’s first goal for the Kirkcaldy club turned the tables on the Dumfries men, who finished with 10 men after scorer Smith received his marching orders following a fracas with teenage defender Reece Donaldson.
McGlynn said: “We were quite unfortunate to be behind it’s quite a soft penalty and we could have felt aggrieved at that. It would be very easy for teams to buckle in that situation, but we stuck to it and got our rewards.
“It was a really polished performance.”
The victory ensures that, for the third season running, Raith are the early leaders in the first division, alongside Hamilton, the only other side to collect a full six points.
McGlynn said: “It’s another good start and we’re delighted with that. It helps you throughout the whole season if you can get a few points on the board.”
He added: “You don’t want to get left behind. We now need to build on it.”
An entertaining first half saw both defences come under pressure.
Raith were first to threaten on 23 minutes when midfielder Danny Thomson aimed a header just wide after being picked out by the impressive Iain Williamson, who also came close with a low drive that Roddy McKenzie held.
Queens ended the half strongly with Smith twice coming close with close range headers, before defender Ryan McGuffie hit the underside of the bar with another headed effort.
The breakthrough came a minute before the interval when Dougie Hill, back in the Raith side after injury, was penalised for holding former team-mate Mark Campbell in the box.
The decision infuriated Raith, but referee Alan Muir waved away the protests before Smith blasted the penalty past David McGurn.
A Raith victory looked unlikely at this stage, but when Baird cracked home Williamson’s clever cutback on 67 minutes, the visitors had three points in their sights.
Rovers’ keeper McGurn prevented his team from falling behind again five minutes later with a stunning one-handed save from a Chris Higgins header.
That save proved crucial as Rovers capitalised on poor defending to take the lead with 13 minutes left.
Thomson’s ball forward was misjudged by McGuffie under pressure from Baird, who raced clear before beating McKenzie with a sublime lob.
Queen’s hopes of recovery were dashed in the 87th minute when Smith was shown a straight red card for landing an elbow on Donaldson, and 30 seconds later Graham outsmarted Campbell in the box before coolly side-footing home for 3-1.