Queen of the South survived a late Berwick revival to hold on for a 2-1 win at Palmerston.
The Dumfries men went ahead in the 14th minutes when Alan Neill brought down Andy Aitken in the box and Peter Weatherson scored from the spot.
The Doonhamers deserved their lead after Warren Hawke had earlier seen a header come back off the post.
Berwick pressed forward and a super save by David Mathieson at point-blank range prevented Gary Wood from equalising.
Just on the interval, Weatherson took up a pass from Hawke to put his side two up.
Berwick hit back within 10 minutes of the restart when Gordon Forrest waltzed round two defenders and put the ball high into the net.
From then on it was a case of the home side holding out as Berwick pressed for the equaliser.