Hibs in 'brilliant position' as Motherwell Euro qualification pursuit pits Easter Road side against Aberdeen
Three points separate pundits’ pets from Easter Road side with six games remaining
Hibs boss David Gray believes the Easter Road side have put themselves in a “brilliant position” heading into the Scottish Premiership split. And he’s challenged his players to keep up the pressure on fourth-placed Motherwell by picking up maximum points against Aberdeen at Pittodrie tomorrow.
The Steelmen are currently three points ahead of the Hibees in the race for the final guaranteed European place available through the league table. Motherwell travel to Tynecastle to take on league leaders Hearts, with the visitors looking to snap a downward spiral of three defeats and one draw in their past four games.
Gray, his focus firmly on tomorrow’s test against a Dons side battling to avoid being dragged into a relegation play-off, said: “I think before we even talk about the top six games, I think this is obviously the last fixture before the split happens. And what we've done from last weekend (by beating Kilmarnock 3-0) is put ourselves in a brilliant position.
“Aberdeen is a difficult place to go. But this an opportunity for us because of, obviously, Motherwell and Falkirk playing teams in the top six as well.
“All we can control is ourselves. Can we go and do our job? And if we can do that, whatever else happens we can't control.”
Victory over Kilmarnock at Easter Road last week, along with Motherwell losing at home to sixth-placed Falkirk, saw Hibs take a major step towards qualifying for European football for the second straight season – something they haven’t done in half a century. Having missed out on the chance to close the gap in a 0-0 draw at Fir Park just before the international break, momentum is with Gray’s men.
“When we played Motherwell, when you draw the game, staying six points behind them, we then found ourselves in a situation where, if Motherwell were to win all their games, and even if we beat them and they won the rest, sorry, you can't catch them,” said the manager. “But by us doing our job last week and winning the game against Killie, and them dropping points, it puts you back within three points again.
“And I fully expect it to be like that, twists and turns between now and the end of the season. Falkirk and Motherwell both play teams in the top six tomorrow, or over the weekend, sorry.
“So for them, it's almost pretty much started. And for us, this is the last game before the split.
“We’re fully focused on the job at hand tomorrow. If we can make sure we go up there and get the right result, and then we can obviously control that and then see where we are moving forward.
“We're under no illusions of the test that we're going to face at Aberdeen. But we're going into it in a very positive frame of mind ourselves.
“Obviously, three clean sheets in a row, and an opportunity to build on last weekend, scoring three goals. Can we go up there and get a positive result?
“The one thing I've asked for, for a few weeks, is to be a bit more ruthless, a bit more clinical. I think we certainly got that against Kilmarnock and that's the difference. That's probably the one thing that's eluded us a bit.
“Defensively, we've been excellent. Three clean sheets backs that up. But the most important thing is making sure that that gives you a platform to win the game, making sure you create the chances and put them away when they come.”