Source: Team_Talk
Levein lauds terrific Tangerines
Midfielder Craig Conway netted the only goal after four minutes, but the visitors totally dominated the first half and could have had a far greater lead by half-time in what was their first win from this season's four games against the New Douglas Park side.[LNB]Hamilton's goal chances were restricted to the start and end of the second half, with United goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska producing an excellent close-range save from James McCarthy deep into the four minutes of stoppage-time.[LNB]Levein said: "The players were fantastic, and although we had a little nervous five minutes at the end, we thoroughly deserved to win.[LNB]"Anybody who watched the game would tell you that, and that we probably deserved to win quite easily.[LNB]"I felt all week that we would play well today. Francisco Sandaza was fantastic at times, and the only thing he didn't get was a goal to go with his good play.[LNB]"Hamilton's goalkeeper [Tomas Cerny] was fantastic and I understand why Billy Reid is trying to get him on a permanent deal, because some of the saves he made were out of this world."[LNB]Regarding Celtic-bound Zaluska's decisive late contribution, Levein added: "We didn't really need him a lot until the last kick of the ball.[LNB]"He is improving at a rapid rate of knots and unfortunately he'll be doing that for somebody else next season, but while he's here I must compliment him on his attitude.[LNB]"We had a couple of setbacks before kick-off - Morgaro Gomis has an infected foot and Warren Feeney had food poisoning, so we had to jig things round a little; Andis Shala came in for his starting debut and I was pleased with his performance."[LNB]United are level with fourth-placed Aberdeen and five points behind Hearts with six games left, and Levein added: "I'm happy that we're in the top six, and we now have to push on and see if we can catch teams above us."[LNB]Reid claimed the ball had gone out of play before Sandaza cut it back from the byline for Conway to score the game's fourth-minute winner.[LNB]The Hamilton manager admitted frankly, however, that his side could have no complaints about a defeat which leaves them with just one point and no goals from their past six league games.[LNB]He said: "I don't think we did enough to win; we started terribly, although United played really well in the first half, won the battle in the middle of the park, created chances and were the team in the ascendancy.[LNB]"The goal was a smashing finish by Conway, but I thought the ball was out - I've looked at the monitor and I thought at the time that our players could have reacted more, but I don't have any doubt the ball was out.[LNB]"We looked tired and lethargic, weren't ourselves and had too many players not on top of their game, and one or two are playing with injuries, which showed.[LNB]"We had two or three good chances to score and nick a point - and it would have been nicking a point.[LNB]"James McCarthy was one-on-one at the end and it was a good save; James McArthur and Derek Asamoah had chances as well and at the moment we aren't taking them."[LNB]Describing Cerny's contribution in preventing United extending their lead, Reid said: "He's an outstanding goalkeeper; he played in the second half with a wee injury but he's a top goalkeeper in the SPL."[LNB]The defeat saw Hamilton drop one place in the table to 10th, six points clear of bottom side Falkirk.[LNB]Reid added: "There will be no panic - we'll get the points we need."[LNB][LNB]
