Falkirk defender Kenny Milne was pleased with his side's robust performance in the 0-0 draw against Dundee United at Tannadice.The Bairns were on the back foot for much of the contest and only mustered one threatening shot at goal when substitute Russell Latapy fired just wide midway through the second half.

Falkirk never came close to playing the brand of free-flowing football which they pride themselves upon, but Milne was at least satisfied in the way they coped with the tough playing conditions and United's onslaught.

He said: "We always knew it was going to be a very difficult and physical game, but we stood up to that at points in the match.

"We are not the biggest side, but we have proved we can mix it up sometimes and we did that.

"It wasn't going to be pretty and the conditions weren't great.

"It was the same for both teams, but they maybe suited United because they could just go route one.

"It wasn't really a day for passing the ball about because the surface was quite bobbly and the wind was strong.

"We have got to try and adapt to that, but we have come away with a point and I have seen games like that where we could have lost."

United striker Mark de Vries squandered a great opportunity to break the deadlock as early as the second minute when he headed wide from Noel Hunt's well-weighted cross.

That miss was to set the tone for the rest of the contest, with United unable to find a route to goal.

Hunt saw a powerful drive saved by impressive Austrian goalkeeper Robert Olejnik, while Christian Kalvenes looped a header off the crossbar in the 21st minute.

Clear-cut chances were to prove hard to come by during the remainder of the opening period for United.

However, the difficulty they had in breaking down Falkirk's overworked backline was to diminish as de Vries came to the fore at the start of the second half.

He twice fired wide after surging purposefully towards goal, then a late push by the hosts to claim all three points resulted in Kalvenes volleying over from close range and Wilkie denied by another smart stop from Olejnik.

De Vries believes a goal was all that was lacking from a good performance by United, with the Dutchman revealing he shared the same opinion on the match as his manager Craig Levein.

The former Hearts striker said: "I thought the manager was right when he came in after the game and said the only thing we didn't do was score a goal."

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