United Showed Strength Of Character

Craig Levein thought Dundee United had blown 3-points during the 2nd half at Fir Park, but he was very happy at the effort from his players and thinks that they deserved the 3-2 win after playing for almost an hour with only 10-men.

Christian Kalvenes received a red card for his 2nd bookable offence, not long after Dundee United had taken a 1-0 lead, but 10-man United continued to put pressure on the home side and went 2-0 up just before the break.

Even after Motherwell exploited their extra man advantage to pull themselves back into the match in the 2nd half, United refused to give-up and a late Noel Hunt strike gave Levein's side a 3-2 victory.

"We went down to 10-men after half an hour and the good thing was, we pushed on and scored a goal. The score doesn't tell the whole story, but that's how is panned out," said Levein.

"I thought we had lost the three points, but strength of character is a good thing and we showed it today. I'm pleased [with the result], but it's important that we keep getting points and we did that again today."

Motherwell are struggling with Dundee United at the wrong end of the SPL table, but both sides have better squads than their league position would suggest.

Levein continued, "It was tough today and it was played with a competitive edge to it. Coming here is never easy, and all credit to the players for digging out a result - because of that, we gained a bit more confidence with a win away from home, especially against a team that are roundabout our league position."

Collin Samuel grabbed the opening goal for Dundee United, but it was good work from Craig Conway down the left wing which lead-up to the goal.

"It was good work by young Craig Conway on the left hand side and his crossing with both feet is excellent," said Levein.

"We've been doing a little bit of work in training at finishing at the back post and from my point of view it's very pleasing to see something like that coming off. Collin didn't score very many of them in training, but he got himself in a great position to score the goal."

Dundee United`s 2nd goal - just before half-time - was a corner from Craig Conway which was knocked on by Lee Mair and David McCracken headed in to make it 2-0.

Levein once again praised Conway for his involvement in the goal, he said "David did well and got himself in a good position, again a good quality delivery from Conway."

"It got a bit shaky in the 2nd half, we defended a little bit too deep. I considered putting two strikers on just to ease the pressure on the defence at one point, but credit to the players because they deserved the win."

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