Houston positive following 'cruel' loss

Dundee United manager Peter Houston was remaining positive despite the disappointment of a late defeat at Hearts at the weekend.

Marius Zaliukas headed a winner for the hosts with just a couple of minutes remaining before David Goodwillie missed an even later penalty for their visitors in a 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle.

"I'm absolutely gutted but I'll take that performance from a United side any day of the week," Houston told BBC Scotland. "It's a game I don't think we deserved to lose. It was cruel. I thought we upset them. We had the crowd going against them, we were a goal in front, we had a goal disallowed for handball.

"I look at the bigger picture and I see a very, very young Dundee United side here and [consider] the players we've got injured, and I'm so proud of them," he continued. "There is lots to look forward to from Dundee United. We gave a good, experienced Hearts side a run for their money.

"We played some excellent football, passed the ball around about them, created some decent chances, but you have to defend properly and we didn't do that."

The Tangerines have an immediate chance to put things right when next in action at St Johnstone on Tuesday evening.

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