Dundee United 1 - 1 St Mirren: Scott Severin undergoes surgery after triple leg break

The 32-year-old was taken off after a challenge by Jim Goodwin in Saturday's draw with St Mirren at Tannadice. United manager Peter Houston confirmed that Severin has broken his fibia and tibia, as well as tearing ligaments.

Houston was aware that there had been a serious injury when he said after the game: "It looks like Scott will be out for quite a long time."

United skipper Jon Daly admits Severin's injury could be a damaging blow to the club's Clydesdale Bank Premier League aspirations. United, who sold last season's top scorer David Goodwillie to Blackburn last midweek, already have a threadbare squad in comparison to previous campaigns. However, Daly felt there was no malice intended by Goodwin in trying to win the ball.

He said: "It is a nasty injury but I don't think Jim Goodwin is a nasty player. He is a good, honest player and I don't think he would go into a challenge trying to hurt someone.

"Both players have gone in hard and unfortunately Seve has come off worst. That is just the way football goes and unfortunately for us we are going to be missing him for a while."

Daly netted a second-half equaliser after former Dundee United striker Steven Thompson had opened his Buddies account after 11 minutes.

St Mirren were forced to play the second half with only ten men after striker Nigel Hasselbaink was sent off for catching United defender Paul Dixon with his arm.

And Daly felt his side should have gone on and taken all three points.

He added: "We knew it was going to be tough with the way St Mirren have started the season. We didn't get off to the best of starts and by going one down we gave them a lead to try to hold on to. The turning point was the sending-off on the stroke of half-time, which changed the game back in our favour.

"In the second half I thought there was only one team in it and we should have really won the game comfortably. We had quite a few chances but didn't take them."

St Mirren received plenty of plaudits for their attacking displays against Dunfermline and Aberdeen, but manager Danny Lennon believes their brave defensive performance against United showed another aspect to their game.

The Paisley side remain unbeaten with five points from their opening three matches in the SPL. Lennon said: "I thought we showed another side of our game today. We are trying to play entertaining football but I thought the character we showed to dig out a result in the second half speaks volumes. I'm not just talking about the ten players on the pitch - every single one of our substitutes was also winning every tackle and passing every ball from the sidelines.

"We are happy to come away with a point, particularly after having to play with the ten men for so long."