BY ITV.com

Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen accused Mark De Vries of going down too easily after the Dundee United striker won a penalty to salvage a point for his side.

Dean Shiels had given Hibs the lead with a composed finish in an entertaining tussle at Tannadice but Thierry Gatheussi's clumsy challenge on the Dutchman gifted United a penalty three minutes later.

Noel Hunt converted the 60th-minute spot-kick to keep United level on points with Hibs in the race for third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

But Paatelainen felt his team deserved more despite United having the better of the first-half chances.

"We scored a fantastic goal, a good finish and with the penalty Thierry should have done better," the former United forward said.

"De Vries is going nowhere, he should have just jockeyed him instead of trying to win the ball. All credit to De Vries, he used his body well, got his body in the way.

"Thierry touched him very lightly and all in all I thought the big man went down very easily. But the referee decided it was a penalty.

"Thierry lifted his hands and touched him, as soon as you lift your hand and the striker goes down, you know you are asking for trouble."

Hibs striker Steven Fletcher missed a great chance to grab a winner when Lukasz Zaluska came off his line to save his low shot and Paatelainen felt the Pole played a pivotal role.

He said: "We played really well, we passed the ball and created loads of chances. All credit to their goalkeeper, they only conceded one.

"We could have scored more - I felt we deserved the victory."

While the Hibs boss felt they had dropped two points, opposite number Craig Levein was more positive despite missing the chance to move above third-placed Motherwell, who have a one-point lead with two games in hand against Rangers.

When asked if Motherwell benefited most from the draw, Levein said: "If they get the three points against who they were supposed to play then yes, but if not then we have inched a point closer."

The United boss also thought his side had created the better chances. But he added: "I still thought in the final third we didn't play particularly well.

"I was pleased with a lot of our midfield play and defensive play, apart from when we were a little bit kamikaze at the goal.

"Our movement wasn't as good as it should have been in the box. We put some great balls in but at the same time we had a lot of set-pieces where we didn't really provide the quality we needed.

"We weren't at our best by any stretch of the imagination but it's a game a year so we probably would have lost.

"The players have certainly got a lot of character and they showed that by getting very quickly back into the match."

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