Houston hailed his United side despite missing out on the group stage

Dundee United manager Peter Houston praised his players despite their European exit against AEK Athens.

Jon Daly's goal secured a 1-1 draw in Greece but United lost 2-1 on aggregate to miss out on the group stage.

"I'm proud of the players after that performance. We were fantastic in the second half and outplayed AEK. We'll learn from this," Houston said.

"Another five or 10 minutes and we would have won it. Their players were desperate to hear the final whistle."

United responded well to the blow of falling behind to AEK's Papa Bouba Diop's first-half header.

But they could not add to Daly's equaliser and bow out of the Europa League before the group stage.

"We showed them too much respect to start with and the goal we gave away was very cheap," said Houston.

"After they scored we stepped it up a bit and our young legs showed.

"I am so proud of the players and they will keep progressing because they are a young team.

"I look back to the first leg now, where we didn't really turn up."

Houston also praised United's travelling support, who backed their team throughout at the Karaiskakis Stadium - home of AEK's deadly rivals Olympiakos - with no home fans present amid security fears.

He said: "The fans were fantastic. They cheered us from the first minute to the last.

"The players are desperately disappointed they have not won."

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