Source: Team_Talk
Houston proud of United display
Peter Houston says his Dundee United stars regained their pride in their 1-1 draw against AEK Athens - despite going out of the Europa League.[LNB] The Tangerines bounced back from their 4-0 defeat to Inverness last weekend to record a creditable draw in Athens, although they went out 2-1 on aggregate.[LNB]Jon Daly scored with 12 minutes remaining to cancel out Papa Bouba Diop's opener and give the Clydesdale Bank Premier League side hope of sneaking it with an away goal.[LNB]Substitute Danny Swanson missed a great chance towards the end to send United through but despite the European adventure being over Houston was happy with his men's work.[LNB]He said: "I'm proud of the players after that performance. We were fantastic in the second half and outplayed AEK.[LNB]"They are an experienced side and we will learn so much from this.[LNB]"Danny Swanson is in there gutted that he's not scored because it would have won us the match.[LNB]"I think another five or 10 minutes and we would have won it because we had so much energy and they were tired.[LNB]"I think it was their players who were desperate to hear the final whistle."[LNB]United lost a cheap goal when Sean Dillon gave away a needless corner kick but they rallied well and Houston insists his players did themselves proud.[LNB]He said: "We showed them too much respect to start with and the goal we gave away was very cheap.[LNB]"After they scored we stepped it up a bit and our young legs showed.[LNB]"I am so proud of the players and they will keep progressing because they are a young team.[LNB]"I look back to the first leg now, where we didn't really turn up.[LNB]"We had a great chance that night with Jon Daly but we didn't score - if we had things could have been very different."[LNB]The United boss also praised the club's travelling support, who cheered the team on from start to finish at the Karaiskaki Stadium - home of AEK's deadly rivals Olympiakos -[LNB]with no home fans present because of security fears.[LNB]He said: "The fans were fantastic. They cheered us from the first minute to the last.[LNB]"The players are desperately disappointed they have not won.[LNB]"We gave them a much better performance than we did on Sunday and I'm pleased we gave them something to cheer.[LNB]"The boys did themselves and the club proud."[LNB]AEK manager Dusan Bajevic claimed before the game that the fans lock-out would not affect his men - but admits the eerie atmosphere knocked them out of their stride.[LNB]The Bosnian felt United had penned his team back in the second half and was relieved to progress.[LNB]He said: "I said the other day that the events of the week would not give us an excuse.[LNB]"But I have to admit playing in the empty stadium was a problem.[LNB]"We started well and played good football in the first half.[LNB]"But in the second half Dundee United pressed us and we didn't pass the ball well.[LNB]"It was a hard game in the end but the main thing is we are through and we will celebrate now."
