Fox licks wounds after Hibs hold Dundee United to draw

Liam Fox admitted Dundee United’s 2-2 draw at Hibernian “felt like a defeat” after they were denied victory by Kevin Nisbet’s stoppage-time equaliser.

The Tannadice side looked on course to climb out of the bottom two of the cinch Premiership as they led through first-half goals from Glenn Middleton and Ian Harkes.

But Nisbet pounced with virtually the last kick to score his second of the game and leave Fox deflated.

“That’s a sore one,” he said. “We were really good for long periods of the game and I’m disappointed for the players because of the effort, attitude and quality they showed in the game.

“You never feel totally comfortable but I thought we had dealt with what Hibs had to throw at us. Hibs have got good players though and when they’ve got someone like Nisbet you always worry about what they might produce. We just need to take it on the chin.

“Probably the only thing that was a bit disappointing (about the performance) is that we didn’t put the ball in the net more often in the first half. There’s stuff for us to work on but I thought our play was really good.

“Losing any game with the last kick is sore. It feels like a loss. But I’m sure once we reflect on it, there will be positives to take.”

Hibs boss Lee Johnson lamented his team’s poor start but felt they were worthy of their point in the end.

“I thought for the first 10 minutes we were laboured and poor,” he said. “We didn’t turn them in the first 10 minutes when we had the opportunity and then we conceded a really poor goal. It’s the simplest of goals to stop.

“It was disappointing because it turned the atmosphere a bit negative. We flipped the formation on 22 minutes and we got an instant response when we scored.

Then you think, ‘let’s squeeze up, let’s suffocate them’ but credit to them, they played well. We didn’t do nearly enough in the first half and conceded another poor goal defensively.

“That’s the frustrating bit. We can’t keep having to score three to win a football match. Even against Motherwell, the two goals we conceded were poor.

“We can work day and night on the organisation and the structure and the press but I think that voice is important so it’s obviously something we’ll look to add where possible, and look to nurture and develop.

“The second half was nearly all us, and they were banked in. We didn’t have loads of quality but we showed resilience, we kept attacking and I think we deserved our equaliser.”