Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin admitted there was little to be done as they fell 3-1 to a “better team” in Hibs, with injuries beginning to take their toll on his side.

After going two goals down with a quarter of an hour, the visitors made life difficult for themselves in a crucial battle for the European places.

“The first half was a non-event as far as we’re concerned in terms of what we put into it”, said the manager whose replacements at half-time brought the side goal back with Kristijan Trapanovski scoring five minutes after coming on.

“We had a 20-minute spell just after half-time where we made a couple of changes and I thought both Middleton and Trapanovski had a positive impact. Obviously, we get that goal and get ourselves back into it but I thought Hibs finished the game stronger then as well for the last 15-20 minutes and got the third goal.”

Goodwin admitted his side have been counting the costs of a long season, pushing for the top four in their first season since promotion.

“We’ve got a number of players starting the game today that are carrying knocks and that aren’t quite at 100% but that’s the situation we’re in. (3:41) We don’t have huge strength and depth, obviously in that back area in particular,” he said after the game.

However the manager was keen to stress that Hibernian were deserved winners on the day.

“Sometimes you get beaten by the better team and I think if you look at the players that Hibs have got, individually across the board, I just thought that they were better than us. That is, of course, disappointing given what is at stake but we’re very much still in the fight.”

With three games left to play, United find themselves three points behind Aberdeen and six behind Hibs with St Mirren, Rangers and the Dons still to play.