THIS stunningly entertaining game was such excellent value for money that virtually all of the 8500 lucky fans who watched it, stayed till the final whistle to applaud the teams off the pitch.

A clutch of gold stars could have been handed out at the end but, if we had to restrict them, then the goalkeepers - Dundee United's Grzegorz Szamotulski and Yves Makalamby of Hibs - would be the recipients, with the former getting the nod for man of the match.

The fact that there were no goals did not detract from the entertainment thrown up by two highly committed sides, eager to play good, direct football.

Afterwards, Dundee United manager Craig Levein described the game as "fantastic" and one which ended with the correct result.

"There will be people who will look at a 0-0 scoreline and think it was dull game," he said, "but it was far from it and it was a fair result.

"Grzegorz, our goalkeeper, was helluva good but so was their guy and it showed that there was a lot of good attacking play."

Levein was also quick to acknowledge that he must bring in a new striker before the transfer window closes at the end of this month.

With Jon Daly a long-term injury victim because of a cruciate knee ligament problem, it has been left to Noel Hunt to plough a lone furrow up front for the Tannadice side.

"To be fair to Noel, he works his socks off and tries everything just to help the team. We need more firepower and we need to get that sorted out."

John Collins, the Hibernian manager, was pleased with the performance of his side and of how they took the game to their opponents.

"There were lots of chances, especially as we were away from home," he said, "but you've got to give credit to their goalkeeper. He was outstanding.

"You ask your strikers to hit the target and they managed to do that on numerous occasions but he was in the right place and his reactions were terrific. So, all credit to him."

There were the predictable changes in both sides. United's Willo Flood and Mark Kerr returned to action after suspension and injury respectively while the visitors gave starting places to Lewis Stevenson, Merouane Zemmama and Steven Fletcher, the last two scoring after coming on as second-half substitutes against Gretna last week.

But when Zammama was presented with a golden opportunity to fire his side ahead in the 13th minute, his eye for goal deserted him as he blasted the ball straight at Szamotulski from eight yards after the United goalkeeper and his defensive team-mate, Christian Kalvenes, between them misunderstood a pass-back situation.

It took two sizzling long-range efforts from United's Barry Robson to redress the balance and send out the message that he, at least, was in the mood to win.

Fletcher raced on to a long ball from Guillaume Beuzelin on the half-hour mark, but United's luck held as Szamotulski's attempt to punch clear hit the head of the Hibs striker before being cleared.

Moments later a piece of Zammama brilliance carved out a move that would have led to the opening goal but for the agility of the Tannadice goalkeeper who produced two quick-fire stops to save his side's bacon.

Fletcher's alertness as he accepted the little Morrocan's pass was impressive but when the rebound from Szamotulski's diving save fell for Brian Kerr, the money was on a Hibernian goal until the goalkeeper produced another acrobatic stop.

It took almost 15 minutes of the second half, however, for this match to regain its entertainment value.

It all burst into life when a Kalvenes cross beat Yves Makalamby in the Hibs goal but breathed a sigh of relief when Flood screwed his shot wide of the empty net.

Seconds later it was the Tannadice side's turn to thank their lucky stars. Centre-back Lee Wilkie, sliding across goal to clear Brian Kerr's low shot, succeeded in scooping the ball against his own cross bar.

Then, Abdessala Benjelloun, who had replaced Zammama in the 57th minute, accepted a pass into the area from Fletcher but again Szamotulski came to the rescue with a fine one-handed save from the Hibs man.

Once more play swung to the other end. Makalamby dropped a high and awkward lob across goal but Kevin McCann had realised the potential danger and was on the goal-line to clear Hunt's prod towards goal.

Not to be outdone, Makalamby's counterpart again showed what a great find he has been for United.

This time, he produced another fine save from a Fletcher header after a tantalising cross from Alan O'Brien as the Hibs players wondered what they had to do to beat the powerful Pole.

Dundee United subs: Goodwillie for Conway 29, Buaben for Kerr 63, Robertson for Flood 69 Subs not used: McLean, Kenneth, Duff, Russelll. Hibernian subs: Benjelloun for Zammama 57, Gatheussi for Beuzelin 82. Subs not used: McNeil, Donaldson, Morais, Shiels Joneleit.

Referee: M McCurry Att: 8,405