Dundee Utd 0-0 Falkirk

Feb 24 2008 Gordon Waddell at Tannadice

CRAIG LEVEIN can't believe Falkirk rode their luck to snatch a point and admitted it put him in as bad a mood as getting his bike nicked.

The fuming boss watched Dundee United blow a dream chance to close the gap on Motherwell to a point in the chase for Europe as they bombarded the Bairns for 90 minutes.

The Arabs squandered half a dozen great opportunities and ended up settling for their third SPL draw on the bounce.

Stunned Levein said: "Someone stole my bike from outside Tannadice four weeks ago and I thought I was upset about that - but this feels worse.

"Honestly, we were robbed. How we didn't win I'll never know.

"We had six guys in that dressing-room at the end all claiming they should have had two goals each.

"It's frustrating but overall I'm thrilled with the way we dominated. And the fact is any team who comes into some form at this stage of the season has a great chance of finishing high up the league."

Form is one thing - points are another. And the four they've coughed up to Inverness and Falkirk in the last two games in particular could come back to bite them.

At least Levein had the luxury of a full squad to choose from for once and it showed - this was his strongest line-up and they battered the Bairns.

They could have been ahead inside 90 seconds when Mark De Vries latched on to a beautiful outside-of-the-boot cross from Noel Hunt at the back post, only to see his header drift back across goal and inches wide.

And after 15 minutes keeper Robert Olejnik was at full stretch to deny the 15-goal Irishman who lashed a great right foot effort from a cute Danny Swanson feed.

Swanson, making his first start for the Arabs, was seeing a lot of the ball and causing problems for the Bairns, despite his frail frame.

But size matters, and that's where United held all the aces as they piled on the pressure.

Twice Kenny Milne came to the rescue with some great work, first bravely blocking a Prince Buaben overhead kick at head height for a corner then his superb clearing header under the bar turned away Christian Kalvenes' cross.

United were turning the screw with twin towers Lee Wilkie and Darren Dods constantly backing De Vries up at a barrage of set pieces.

And Dods nearly provided from one of them, dinking a great cross back in which saw a Kalvenes header loop off the bar.

Falkirk were desperate - no other word for it.

Outrun in the middle, outmuscled front and back, outplayed in general.

Not a single attempt at goal before the break.

Something had to give and surprisingly itwas Scott Arfield, who despite nursing a knock wasn't their worst by any stretch.

On came Russell Latapy as John Hughes changed their shape, with Graham Barrett pushed up alongside Ipswich loan boy Billy Clarke, and Pedro Moutinho ending up back in his more natural berth out wide.

None of it made a blind bit of difference though. United were still the better team and still blowing their chances.

De Vries stormed through from 30 yards out before shooting wide, then bludgeoning another past the post after great work by Hunt on the left.

The only ray of light for the Bairns was one moment of magic from Latapy, feinting left and right inside the box before curling a sweet shot inches past.

After that? Dods' hooked volley was saved, Kalvenes blazed aN affort over from six yards and Olejnik rescued the Bairns again with three minutes left when he pounced down low to stop a Wilkie snapshot.

It was a frustrating afternoon, especially for De Vries who's yet to break his Tannadice duck.

He said: "I'm feeling a lot better now with four or five full games behind me.

"That was disappointing though - the only thing we did not do was score.

"There's still time to catch Motherwell. I've played in this league before and the one thing I know is that it's difficult to say who beats who in any game.

"If we can keep the pressure on then they could make mistakes."