Jim Goodwin counts the cost of Hibs draw after Dundee Utd trio come off injured

Jim Goodwin admitted the 1-1 William Hill Premiership draw with Hibernian came at a cost for Dundee United.

The Terrors, looking to build on the midweek win over Celtic, took the lead through Luca Stephenson but Hibs equalised before the break with Martin Boyle netting.

Neither side could find a winner and although happy with the point, United boss Goodwin was left sweating over injuries.

Ryan Strain, Krisztian Keresztes and skipper Ross Graham all had to come off with knocks while goalkeeper Dave Richards needed stitches in his eye before being able to continue.

Goodwin said: “I don’t think we can have too many arguments with the end result. I thought it was probably fair given what both teams put into it.

“I thought Hibs had the better of the first 45 minutes, I thought we had the better of the second half.

“Given what the players put into the game on Wednesday (against Celtic), the lack of time between Wednesday and Saturday in terms of recovery for all these players, I think a point is not a disaster for us.

“Strain and Graham have both had a significant period on the sidelines already, so hopefully neither of those two injuries are too serious. It looks like groin injuries.

“Krisztian was feeling his calf tight at half-time, so we didn’t want to risk it.

“Hopefully it’s just fatigue more than a calf strain, because we can’t afford to be missing any more players.

“Luca Stephenson took a sore one in the first half, thankfully he was able to play through it. Obviously Dave Richards had to get stitches.

“The first 45 minutes I thought was difficult for both sets of players because it was a very stop-start, it was difficult to get any real momentum in it.

United’s Australian forward Zac Sapsford was wearing a black armband, with Goodwin explaining: “Unfortunately, Zac knew a number of people involved in the tragedy in Bondi Beach. His family stay quite close to there.”

Hibs boss David Gray admitted he could not claim that his side deserved to win the game.

He said: “I think quite mixed, how I’m feeling about it, to be honest.

“It didn’t start the way I’d hoped in terms of trying to take advantage of having a fast start.

“United played during the week and I knew they’d be in a good place, feeling confident off the back of a really good result for them.

“But I can’t sit here and say we fully deserve to win the game because I do think it was quite a scrappy game.”