This was not a game for the purists as passing became arduous and tedious.
It was a day on which any fan watching would have wished they were sitting in the warmth as there was no Sunday fayre served here.
United were the better side and probably should have edged it but in truth, neither deserved much from the game.
The visitors really should have gone ahead in the third minute when Guillaume Beuzelin was sent clear by Abdessalam Benjelloun but his chip over the advancing Derek Stillie clipped the bar. Perhaps the pitch was to blame, but it was a bad miss.
An enterprising move in the 32nd minute from Barry Robson and Collin Samuel ended with Noel Hunt narrowly volleying wide as United began to gain more possession.
And the Terrors should have scored on the stroke of half-time when Robson rounded two players, swept the ball across goal but Craig Conway was too slow to react, missing by inches.
The second period began as the first had ended, this time with Samuel missing an easy chance in the 50th minute when the ball broke to him. He fired wide of an inviting goal after Simon Brown's weak punch.
Hibs were ineffective in all departments with little goal threat. Beuzelin tried his luck from long range in the 59th minute but it was only fit for Murrayfield.
United continued to dominate but with the game peppered with unforced errors, there was little, if any, chance of seeing a goal.
Captain Robson tried a spectacular strike from 25 yards which skimmed over in the 75th minute before Brown made a wonderful one-handed save from Hunt's 12-yard volley when it seemed a certain goal.
Five minutes from time a postage stamp free-kick from Robson was clawed out by Brown as United tried to find the opener.
Immediately Brown broke away for a rare Hibees attack but Stillie was first to the ball which really summed up Hibs' day.