If Fraser Fyvie was being picky his injury time goal would have been a winner against Morton.
But an equaliser with seconds left is still a fine way to mark your first league game in nearly nine months.
With Dundee United a goal down to an early Morton penalty, Fyvie was sent on for the last 20 minutes.
When a corner broke nicely for him his first-time strike couldn’t have been a sweeter one.
And the Tannadice captain believes it was the very least that his team – and its supporters – deserved.
“We kept going until the end,” said Fyvie.
“The penalty put our backs against the wall straight away. They got their goal and sat in after that which made it difficult for us.
“But we kept plugging away and had a couple of chances.
“I got the goal to get the draw, which was a great feeling.
“It’s been eight-and-a-half months. I came on last week in the IRN-BRU Cup but the league is different.
“It was a dark tunnel and a lot of people helped me through it.
“I’m delighted to be back involved with the boys and to get the goal. I really appreciated the support I got from the fans. I couldn’t have asked for any more.
“It does feel like two dropped points because I like winning but it could be an important point at the end of the season. We’ll get ready for Falkirk now and go from there.”
With United looking like they were heading for defeat, there were plenty of home fans letting manager Csaba Laszlo know how they felt.
The captain’s message from Fyvie was: “We need them to stick by us and turn out in their numbers, and we’ll be trying to give them three points every week.
“There were things that were really good in the game. We just need to be more clinical.
“We need to start rewarding the fans with three points and ourselves.”
The ex-Aberdeen man added: “The manager has been brilliant with me, especially since I’ve got my injury. He’s spoken to me every day.
“Promotion is the aim – for the manager, the club and the fans.”
The penalty awarded to Morton was as soft as they come. Rachid Bouhenna was deemed to have impeded Gregor Buchanan when a corner came into the box early in the contest, with Michael Tidser scoring from the spot.
A first half devoid of much goalmouth action sparked into life in the last few minutes with three near misses – two of them for United.
First Fraser Aird picked out Pavol Safranko with a cross from the right. The striker’s diving header was a powerful one but too close to keeper Ryan Scully, who saved.
Up the park went Morton, with United’s centre-backs nowhere to be seen, and Denny Johnstone made a mess of his clear run-in on Matej Rakovan.
Then in injury time, Craig Curran found the side of the net when he really should have found the back of it.
In the second half United dominated the ball without the necessary cutting edge – until Fyvie’s late intervention.
“I am really proud of the boys,” said Laszlo.
“It was a difficult game. It’s not easy when you see the minutes going and going and still you haven’t scored.
“We had two very good chances at the end of the first half. In the second half Morton were very deep.
“Sometimes you have games like this when you have to suffer. Everybody showed spirit, team spirit.”
He added: “Fyvie’s a player who can score goals. In 20 minutes he shot three times.
“He can definitely inspire the team but we need to be careful with him because of his injuries.”
On the disapproval of some supporters, Laszlo said: “This is our third year in the Championship.
“I understand but they have to understand that we are only human and are trying to do the best for the club.
“The season is only five games old and I hope they understand the situation – that we have changed the team a lot.
“Everybody feels that we lost two points but they could see that was a team with a united spirit.
“I was expecting more points from the last two games.
“I think we have a good team and can dominate very game. We just need to be more clinical.”
Morton boss Jonatan Johansson will be able to take heart from the visitors’ performance in his first game in charge but he couldn’t hide his post-match frustration.
He said: “Of course we were gutted to lose a late goal to a set-play. I thought we had done enough. It was a sweet shot but we are disappointed.
“I don’t think they created a chance in the second half until the goal.”
