IF Terry Butcher hasn't already adopted The Only Way Is Up as Inverness Caledonian Thistle's anthem, he might like to.

So what, if they have taken only two points from a potential 30 this season? They currently prop up the Clydesdale Bank Premier League table, but the fact is that under Butcher they are undefeated.

It took a late Lee Wilkie goal, seconds after the visitors were reduced to ten men by the ordering off of Russell Duncan, for off-colour United to salvage a point.

The draw, coupled with Hearts' victory over Aberdeen, means the Tynecastle side replace United in third place. "I've seen us better," Levein said. "There was plenty of sweat and toil without much quality from us and we made some poorer decisions than we normally do. We didn't play with a clarity of mind considering our position in the league. We didn't get going to anywhere near the level we usually do. Substitutions are sometimes borne out of desperation and Andis Shala has waited all season for his chance and with his first touch, set-up Wilkie's equaliser."

From the Caley Thistle manager there was praise for his battling players, particularly as they were a man short for the last 20 minutes of the game. "I'm delighted with the point, having gone down to ten men and United throwing everything at us," he said. "The players are gutted but I told them that even if they'd lost I would still have been pleased with their attitude and performance and the way the stuck together."

Levein would have been asking half-time questions of his side's defending after Eric Odhiambo, Inverness's new striker, headed home from Doug Imrie's cross.

When a neat glancing header from Jon Daly, the Tannadice striker, beat Ryan Esson, the Caley Thistle goalkeeper, before being blasted off the goal-line by his team-mate, Lionel Djebi-Zadi, a few moments later, however, the United manager could take a little comfort that the game was not a lost cause.

United certainly saw enough of the ball to make an impression and, had there been a trifle more mobility from their front players, they might even have equalised. As it was, their craft could not match their urgency and first-half frustration crept in to their play, although there were enough tantalising crosses from Craig Conway on which Daly and Francisco Sandaza could feed.

In the end, the visitors should have retired for their half-time cuppa with an increased lead after Imrie capitalised on Paul Dixon's uncertainty only to squander the opportunity by placing his five-yard square pass to the unmarked Odhiambo right into the sprawling arms of a prostrate Lukasz Zaluska three minutes from the break. Drastic measures, Levein would have concluded, were required to instil a modicum of concentration into his flaky defence.

There was little evidence, however, that any rollicking made much of a difference and when Paul Caddis blundered in an area that was too close for comfort for his goalkeeper, Imrie stepped in with a scorching left-foot strike that almost burst the side netting. A little later, when Zaluska plucked a Richie Foran effort out of the air, it underlined the visitors' greater confidence on the ball.

A momentary lapse in focus 20 minutes from the end, though, cost them dearly. Russell Duncan's trip on Danny Swanson midway into the Inverness half, was, according to referee Craig Thomson, a last man scenario and merited an ordering off. It took Butcher three minutes to alter his strategy by bringing on Roy McBain in midfield for Imrie and there was acceptance that it was now a case of attempting to retain their slim lead.

Such an aspiration lasted only until the 78th minute when, having just replaced Daly and Sandaza with Andis Shala and Warren Feeney up front, Levein urged his men to deliver.

He had to wait just seconds for his instructions to take effect as a cross from the right was headed on by Shala for Lee Wilkie to stab the ball home from close range with Esson, the Caley Thistle goalkeeper, fumbling fresh air.