United emerged from the tussle at Tynecastle with a 2-1 defeat, having taken an early lead, but Houston felt his side were far from lacking against the third-placed Jambos.
In fact, he claimed United merited more plaudits for that defeat than they did for their emphatic win over Hibernian, insisting: "I was really, really pleased with the performance.
"We beat Hibs 3-0 recently and we played better in this game. Football can be cruel at times and, when we lost the second goal, I didn't think we deserved to lose the match.
"We got a break when we got the penalty kick but, unfortunately for us, we missed it and the goalkeeper made the save.
"Personally, I look at the bigger picture. We had players out missing and seven under-21s in the squad and I see a lot of promise and potential in those players."
Source: PA
Source: PA