Dundee United manager Craig Levein heaped praise on Danny Swanson after his goal set the Terrors on the road to a 2-0 victory over Motherwell.The 21-year-old substitute found the net just 40 seconds after replacing Jim O'Brien with the SPL encounter goalless, before Mark de Vries then doubled his side's margin of victory two minutes from time.

Levein said: "He is undoubtedly the most talented player I've worked with - he can do amazing things with the ball, uses both feet, his finishing is superb and he isn't scared of anything and just runs at people.

"His game's all about getting the ball and entertaining people and that's why the supporters here love him; if he was six feet tall and robust he would have played every week, but he's a little bit lightweight as he's come from part-time football and needs a lot of work to cope with the physical demands of the SPL.

"He's had an impact in a number of games, coming on for the last 20 minutes, but when I've started him, it's too hurly-burly for him and he doesn't get time to turn and run at people, which is what he does best, as it's too congested in midfield.

"In a game like this where there's nothing happening - the football would have got two out of 10 the first half - he made a difference, although I didn't really put him on expecting him to make an impact within 40 seconds."

The three points moved United up to third place in the league, ahead of Hibernian and Motherwell in the race for Europe, and the manager added: "If we'd lost or even got a draw, then psychologically it would have been a huge boost for Motherwell and a kick in the teeth for us, but we've been playing very well and results always follow performances.

"Because of the importance of this game I thought it was vital that we won so I went with two defensive players and two attacking players, and at home we'll probably do that.

"I've never been so fortunate in all my managerial career to have such a strong squad at one time; we have 20 outfield players who are really exciting.

"The biggest thing for me was that Mark Kerr was absolutely fantastic after last week [when his passback error cost a goal in the League Cup final], as he kept trying to get on the ball, to make things happen and I thought he was brilliant, so it hasn't affected him at all."

Motherwell counterpart Mark McGhee admits his side need to concentrate on the defensive side of their game, but believes they still have a chance of overtaking their rivals to finish third.

He said: "We've probably learned a bit about ourselves - we approach most games trying to win and maybe the time has come now when we have to talk about not losing.

"I didn't think there was enough determination not to concede, particularly as it got to the latter stages and that's why we lost, so that's the way we'll be approaching the last run of games.

"There has to be more urgency about defending, not conceding possession in our own half and restricting space; that's as much from my philosophy because of course we talk about defending but it hasn't been the priority as we've talked more about possession and attacking play, but now's the time we have to start thinking more about the other way of playing.

"It was a great result for Dundee United but we still have them to play at Fir Park and we think we're capable of beating them there, so that would cancel out what's happened today.

"We have two games in hand and Hibs to play again a couple of times - we have to do better than today and something has to change or we won't get third, but we believe we can make a change to our way of thinking and that we're

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