Craig Levein was purring about the the second-half display of winger Craig Conway as Dundee United extended their unbeaten run to ten games a 2-0 win over Hibs. It was a game of two halves from Conway as he burst into life in the second to inspire the Tannadice men to a comfortable win. It was Conway who terrorised visiting full-back Sol Bamba and crossed for Darren Dods to start the scoring shortly after the break. Levein felt the turn around in his display, and that of left-back Paul Dixon behind him, was crucial to United's three points. He said: "I thought we edged the first half but it was more even. But in the second half we were far more positive. The difference for me in the second half was Craig Conway, he typified the performance. In the first half, every touch he took was back towards his own goal and in the second half every one he took was forward. When he's in full flight, I don't care how quick you are - and Bamba is lightning quick - and he couldn't handle him. All credit to him, and Paul Dixon was very positive in the second half as well. I just felt we were a bit tentative going down that side in the first half and didn't really take the game to them. And on the other side we were going great in the first half and that kind of faded away. When we saw that Conway was on fire in the second half we just kept funnelling the ball to him. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was an excellent performance all round, but he typified the difference in the second half."
Hibs counterpart Mixu Paatelainen thought that the performance from United keeper Lukasz Zaluska made a massive difference to the result. With the game still at 0-0 Zaluska pulled off a magnificent save from Colin Nish to deny Hibs at a crucial moment in a delicately balanced game. However, when Francisco Sandaza caught out a Hibs' sleeping rearguard to add a second to Dods' opener, there was only going to be one winner. Paatelainen said: "At the attacking end in the second half we could have scored before they scored. Colin Nish had a fantastic effort. What a save that was from their keeper, and credit to him because that kept them in the game. Goals change matches and if that had gone in it could have been a totally different game. But these are ifs and buts. We lost the game because we didn't score a goal and we conceded two. Quite simply, at both ends, we must do better. We knew they are good at putting crosses in, that's why we had the back line that we did, with strong boys that are good at heading, defensive players that are not too adventurous from the back, out-and-out defenders. But if you daydream and you don't make sure that you are first to the ball, and the strikers are sharp, then they can score goals. We must do better than that. Certain individuals just fell asleep in those situations and it is disappointing." | Editor
Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)
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