Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson was delighted to see his side stand up to the challenge posed by “top-four” side Hearts in their opening Betfred Cup clash.
The Tangerines headed to Tynecastle as underdogs and, though they gave up plenty of ground to their Premiership opponents throughout the contest, came away with a hard-earned point after a 1-1 draw in torrential rain.
Neilson said the display could have been better but insists it showed his team had the ability to match up to some of the best in the country.
He said: “Playing against probably a top-four team, at Tynecastle, I think any team outwith the Old Firm would take a point.
“We proved to ourselves and to everyone else we can play at this level, so I was delighted.
“When you go to Tynecastle you can get beat five or six nil.
“Most Championship teams going there could get turned over with the quality Hearts have in their side.
“They had two international central defenders, an international right-back, a striker QPR spent £3.5 million on in Conor Washington, Uche Ikpeazu is a man mountain, Jamie Walker has been a top player in Scotland for a long time, any team going there will find it difficult.
“We did at times but we knew it would be – we knew we’d have to stop it getting to Ikpeazu, we’d give up space out wide and have to deal with crosses.
“Although they had a lot of possession and a lot of movement out wide and delivery, we knew it would be like that and we packed the penalty box.
“We did that and I was delighted.”
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The rules of the Betfred Cup see a bonus point awarded to the winner of a penalty shootout in the event of a draw.
After last season’s play-off final saw the Tangerines miss every spot-kick in their shootout defeat to St Mirren, Robbie joked he was happy just to see Paul McMullan’s effort find the net after Nicky Clark had seen his opening kick saved by Zdenek Zlamal.
The manager added: “I was just delighted when wee McMullan stepped up and it actually went in!
“That, for me, was a win, I wasn’t bothered with what happened after that!”
The Tangerines now head to Stirling County tonight to face Stenhousemuir in their second clash in Betfred Cup Group A.
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