Manager Craig Levein insisted Dundee United should have left Inverness with three points after Markus Paatelainen's late leveller in the SPL.United took the lead in the 68th minute when Prince Buaben scored from close range after connecting with substitute Noel Hunt's low cross.

The Tayside club did little else to trouble Inverness goalkeeper Michael Fraser during the second period, but Levein was adamant United would have been deserved victors had it not been for Paatelainen's late intervention.

He said: "I think we should have won and that we played better in the second half than Inverness.

"In all honesty, if you look at the recent record Inverness have here then I suppose a point is a decent result, because other teams will come here between now and the end of the season and get nothing."

For the trip to the Highland capital, Levein made five changes to the side that lost 1-0 to St Mirren in the Scottish Cup on Wednesday night, with United having endured a demanding schedule of eight games since January 16.

One of the players rested was Hunt, joining Darren Dods, David Robertson and Craig Conway in dropping to the substitutes' bench, while Christian Kalvenes was not named in the squad.

However, despite Hunt's hand in United's goal, Levein believed his decision to alter such a large proportion of his team was the correct one.

He said: "It was taking a risk, and who knows what the score would have been if Hunt had played from the start.

"But certainly if I'd have played them all from the start I don't think we would have got anything from the game."

With United only able to secure a draw against Caley Thistle, Motherwell leapfrogged the Tannadice club to reclaim third spot in the table.

Well have three games in hand over United, but Levein questioned whether Mark McGhee's side have the resources to cope with a tough run of fixtures in a short space of time.

He said: "All of the time we have been playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Motherwell weren't playing.

"At some point they are going to have to play these games and I don't know if Motherwell have got the squad, where if they get injuries, they will be able to handle that sustained period of pressure on the players.

"If they do then good luck to them, but although I haven't been in this position a lot of times before, I know the games start to run out.

"Firstly, you have to get into the top six and things can change dramatically when that has been decided and you have five games left, with 15 points to play for.

"Getting there is the first thing and if you think about anything else then you are off your head."

Inverness player-manager Craig Brewster was pleased with his players' efforts in the second half, as they improved from a flat showing during the opening 45 minutes.

Brewster admitted his shock at Buaben's goal, which came at a time when he thought his team were in control of the contest.

But he was delighted with the performances of Graham Bayne and goalscorer Paatelainen, which helped secure his side a share of the spoils.

He said: "I thought we were a bit tentative in the first half, we didn't really commit ourselves, albeit we had a couple of good phases of play and two great efforts from Don Cowie.

"The two teams cancelled each other out in the first half and I said at half-time we needed more energy, which we got at the start of the second half.

"Suddenly they scored and I thought 'where did that come from?', because I thought we were comfortable and never looked like losing a goal.

"But we made a couple of changes and got back into the game."

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