JIM Duffy admits he was gutted to leave Tannadice empty handed on Saturday after his players put in a ‘magnificent’ effort against Dundee United.

United won 2-1 in the end thanks to goals from James Keatings and Scott McDonald either side of a Bob McHugh equaliser. 

But Duffy reckons his side were desperately unlucky not to hold on to at least a point after an evenly contested 90 minutes.

Duffy said: “It was tough to take.

“When you lose a goal after getting it back to 1-1 at Tannadice it’s hard on the players because they put an unbelievable amount of effort in. 

“I thought the commitment was magnificent and as a manager you want everything from your players.

“Every game is settled on errors and ultimately that has cost us the game. But in terms of what they’ve put in I’m delighted with that. We’re disappointed to come back with nothing but delighted with the effort.

“Tactically we were very good, we caused them problems. There wasn’t too much goalmouth action in the second half but you’ve got quality players like Scott McDonald who can instinctively score those goals.”

Ton forward Robert Thomson and his team-mates were screaming for a penalty in the dying embers of the fixture when his header seemed to bounce off the arm of Terrors defender Stewart Murdoch. But referee Alan Muir waved for play to continue.

And while Duffy admits he had a poor view of the incident from the bench, his players were convinced they should have had a spot-kick and a chance to level things up with the clock ticking down.

He said: “The players are adamant it was handball but from where I was I couldn’t really see it. They were adamant the player has put his hands up to his face and you can’t do that. But I couldn’t honestly say.

“Players in the last few minutes are going to claim for everything but they’re adamant that it was. It might be the case but I can only look at my team and think that we’ve went toe to toe with Dundee United at Tannadice.”

Jai Quitongo had to go off with a hamstring issue and Duffy said: “Jai felt his hamstring but it didn’t pull, thankfully. It tightened up and we hope it’s just a bit of cramp, we’ll have to wait and see how he is. He noticed it straight away, so hopefully that will help.”