Aberdeen ace Lewis Ferguson delivers European battle message to Hibs

Lewis Ferguson has delivered Hibs a message in the battle for third place. Picture: SNS

The battle for best of the rest threw up a surprise result at the weekend.

While Aberdeen lost narrowly at Celtic, Hibs were defeated by Motherwell who had been struggling and were missing a number of players.

It leaves the gap between the sides at four points with the split approaching, although Hibs have a game in hand against lowly Ross County.

Ferguson believes Aberdeen have turned a corner but finishing third is out of their hands.

“We went through a bad spell of not getting results and not performing well,” he said. “We have turned that corner in the last few weeks.

“It is not really down to us at the minute.

"Hibs are obviously in control of that so it is down to them and whether they want to get that spot or not. We can just do all we can as we are pushing as hard as possible.

“We obviously want that and that was in our sights at the start of the season. It is still our aim, but it is not in our hands at the minute.

“We have plenty of games to go and if we can pick up as many points as we want then you never know. It might get us that third spot.”

All three of Hibs’ pre-split matches are away from Easter Road, starting with a trip to League Cup winners St Johnstone on Saturday. The Hibees hold the third best away record in the league.