This is what Derek McInnes had to say to the media in the Easter Road press room after the game today:

“I thought we were very good second half today and got exactly what we expected.

“Paul wasn’t happy with his team last week and I think it was clear we were facing a good Hibs team. I thought they were the better team and we were too guilty of giving the ball away. Their movement with the front three was far better than ours and we spoke about that at half time. They passed up opportunities, but it was a good equalising goal from us. McLennan does well and beats Gray and it’s a good finish from Big Sam.

“I thought the last ten minutes of the first half we were decent and we spoke about getting the three points and the win. We had our work cut out to keep Hibs at bay and they had a couple of decent opportunities.

“The winning goal was superb and some of our work rate and confidence second half was much better and we were the far better team second half.

“We’ve came away and it was a tight game against a good Hibs team and you could see why they’ve been so strong away from home. We’ve beat a good team, picked up three points and done what we wanted to do, but ultimately it’s not enough.

“I thought going into the split that nine points would maybe be enough and ten certainly. We beat Kilmarnock and beat the two Edinburgh teams, but Kilmarnock have managed to beat Rangers, which has ultimately got them the 67 points.

“We have to congratulate them and that’s good shooting from them to get to that mark. We’ve had a lot of injuries to contend with and I think we’ve missed that creativity and spark sometimes.

“Our away form has been second to none as it was today and we’ve managed to come away with a win again.

“In the end those three home games against Hamilton, St Mirren and Livingston has stopped us getting to that 70 point mark. If we’d got to the 70 points then we’d have got that European spot.

“Now we’re dependent on Celtic doing their job next week and getting into Europe that way.

“Today I couldn’t fault my players. Whether it was a loan player going back or players moving on ala Shinnie or players who’ll be here both young and old I thought we were as one today with the support to get the job done. We have to congratulate Kilmarnock, but I’m still proud of my players efforts this season.

“It’s so important for us that European football and I’ve took pride in the fact we’ve had that.

“We’ve had six years of good, solid work and there’s evidence of that. This will be our lowest points tally on 67, but we’ve went to the last game of the season again.

“My first game at Aberdeen was a 0-0 at Easter Road in front of about six and a half thousand with both teams in the bottom six and it was torture. There was nothing on it and we were just playing out a season for the sake of it. We were still going to the wire today and my players played that way. While we’re disappointed we’ve not got to our 70 points, the cup competitions we’ve lost to Celtic in a final and a semi-final so we’ve not just been dumped out by someone who we should be dealing with.

“We’ve had some good highlights this season and sometimes your reward comes from that European football and it helps you get through your close season.

“We’ve always had strong home form, but this season we’ve conceded too many at home this season and I think chopping and changing the back four doesn’t help. Shay Logan’s been out for four months, Tommie Hoban, who we brought in as right back cover has been injured and we’ve chopped and changed the back four all season. Sometimes we were just short of that spark, but our away form has been brilliant. Today we countered brilliantly and we’ve still shown we’re a capable team.

“When I watched those two Burnley ties we had everyone available and I think we looked like a proper team. I said to myself this is the best squad we’ve got, but ultimately every time we went to pick a team there was about four or five of that team out.

“I’ll take responsibility for that and it’s my job now to hopefully build a squad that’s ready for Europe if Celtic win the cup. If that’s not the case then we’ll be ready for the season.

“The rebuild is something we have to do here and we’ll definitely go again.”