United revival is short lived as Hibs win in the Bank of Scotland Premier League  thanks to three second-half goals.

Chris Killen opened the scoring seven minutes after the restart when he capitalised on poor defending by the home side, before substitutes Dean Shiels and Ivan Sproule sealed the points for the visitors with two late strikes.

United player-manager Craig Brewster had almost scored an equaliser prior to Shiels' goal, but the defeat for United ended their recent four-game unbeaten streak.

The match began with Hibs attempting to bed in and keep possession as is their trademark style, but the visitors were nearly caught cold in the second minute as Noel Hunt went close for United.

The first half concluded with both goalkeepers finally being called into action and Zbigniew Malkowski was forced into making a tremendous one-handed block to prevent Samuel from breaking the deadlock four minutes before the interval.

Not to be outdone by his opposite number though, Derek Stillie also showed that he was in fine form, diving low to stop a powerful drive from distance by Scott Brown.

The second half started with a 51st-minute shot from Whittaker being well blocked by Alan Archibald, but the 28-year-old was caught out moments later as Killen pounced on some slack play in the home rearguard to fire Hibernian ahead.

A long ball from Shelton Martis was played perfectly into the channel between United central defender Archibald and left-back Christian Kalvenes and when neither reacted to the danger, Killen capitalised to full effect, firing an effort past Stillie from 16 yards.

The introduction of two substitutes in the form of William Easton and Craig Brewster nearly brought an equaliser for United when an overlapping run from Kalvenes resulted in a low cross to Brewster which drew a fine save from Malkowski. That was to be the end of United's mini-revival though, as two late goals sealed the points for the visitors.

First Shiels latched on to Stillie's 81st minute save from Benjelloun's 20-yard drive to impudently chip the United goalkeeper, before Sproule rounded off a dismal afternoon for United by scoring from close range in the final minute of the match.

Dundee United: Stillie, Proctor, McCracken, Archibald, Kalvenes, Duff, Cameron (Easton 74), Kerr, Conway, Samuel, Hunt (Brewster 74).

Subs not used: McLean, Kenneth, Gardiner, Robertson, Burnett.

Hibernian: Malkowski, Whittaker, Jones, Martis, Murphy, Zemmama (Shiels 76), Stewart, Scott Brown, Thomson, Killen, Benjelloun (Sproule 81).

Subs not used: McNeil, McCluskey, Fletcher, Shields, Konde.

Referee: Craig Thomson.

Attendance: 6,387.