DUNDEE UNITED manager Peter Houston declared himself convinced his team can play as well as anyone in the SPL bar Celtic, despite losing to Hearts.
The Tannadice boss had to watch his team once again concede a lead to opponents before having to chase the game.
A Ryan Stevenson first-half double one from the penalty spot did the job for Hearts at Tynecastle, while Keith Watson struck for the visitors after the break.
They just couldn’t find an equaliser and left Edinburgh with nothing other than the belief and self-confidence that some excellent play has given them.
“I can’t believe we never got anything out of the game,” said Houston. “Again, it is down to an individual error and Brian (McLean) should deal with the first goal.
“We did not deal with it properly and we found ourselves a goal down. I have not seen the penalty again but I feel it was a bit soft.
“Again we found ourselves chasing the game, but in the second half we pummelled them and the ball did not break for us.
“I am really gutted that we got nothing from the match because we played some good stuff. The team that played the better football lost today.
“It is frustrating. You can work all week with your team and your shape but if you can’t deal with a high ball….
“Brian is the first man to put his hand up and we can’t stand and criticise all day and he came on to a game but it is a soft goal and that is what we have to look at.
“At the second goal, Willo is said to have grabbed an arm but John Sutton grabs arms all the time and gets away with it. But we accept that and find ourselves 2-0 down. I thought that was a bit harsh on us.
“The only break was Keith Watson’s goal when Rudi has had a smash at it and it is going nowhere and it fell kindly for him and he scores.
“I can’t ask more from the players other than to cut out individual mistakes.
“We are as good as anybody in this league. We can play as good football as anyone in the league outside Celtic but we have to really, really stop giving soft goals away.”
United scorer Keith Watson didn’t take any consolation from his strike.
“The goal doesn’t really matter because we didn’t get anything from the game,” said the defender. “And we’ve lost two sloppy goals, as well, so we’re disappointed with that.
“I felt as if we battered them in the second half but just couldn’t get that other goal. We always seem to be giving teams goals of a start, leaving ourselves too much to do.
“We always seem to come out and play well in the second half but by then we’ve got a mountain to climb. Sometimes it’s too big for us.”
For a full match report, see Monday’s Courier or try our new digital edition.