Noel Hunt's penalty leveller kept Dundee United and Hibernian on an equal footing in the race for a UEFA Cup spot after a 1-1 draw at Tannadice.

Dean Shiels handed Hibs the lead after rounding Lukasz Zaluska but they could only hold it for three minutes as Thierry Gathuessi fouled Mark de Vries to give away a penalty on the hour mark and Hunt made no mistake from the spot.

Both sides created numerous chances and Fletcher missed the best opportunity to win an entertaining Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash when Zaluska came off his line to save a one-on-one.

Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen accused De Vries of going down too easily for the penalty.

"We scored a fantastic goal, a good finish and with the penalty Thierry should have done better," the former United forward said.

"De Vries is going nowhere, he should have just jockeyed him instead of trying to win the ball. All credit to De Vries, he used his body well, got his body in the way.

"Thierry touched him very lightly and all in all I thought the big man went down very easily. But the referee decided it was a penalty.

"Thierry lifted his hands and touched him, as soon as you lift your hand and the striker goes down, you know you are asking for trouble."

His opposite number Craig Levein was more positive.

When asked if Motherwell benefited most from the draw, Levein said: "I still thought in the final third we didn't play particularly well.

"I was pleased with a lot of our midfield play and defensive play, apart from when we were a little bit kamikaze at the goal.

"Our movement wasn't as good as it should have been in the box. We put some great balls in but at the same time we had a lot of set-pieces where we didn't really provide the quality we needed.

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