Levein was upset by his side's inept performance

Dundee United boss Craig Levein was upset with his side's poor defending as they were dumped 3-1 at Hamilton.

"We got what we deserved," he told BBC Sport. "That was a reality check.

"We gave Hamilton four early chances simply by giving the ball away 20 yards from our goal. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"We just didn't play until the final 20 minutes when we had four good chances but prior to that we'd have been as well not turning up."

United were handed a fortuitous lead when Mark McLaughin headed in an own net from a Willo Flood cross.

However, the newly-promoted Accies came roaring back and were worthy winners.

"Some of the defending was abysmal," added Levein. "You'd never know we'd been working on that all week.

"We lost three goals and it could have been a lot more.

"There's a lot of work to do before we meet Celtic next week.

"I'd maybe give three players pass-marks and that is certainly nowhere near good enough."