Aberdeen striker Curtis Main insists his club is determined not to give up third place without a fight.
The Dons moved to within a point of Motherwell after beating Hibernian 3-1 at Pittodrie on Saturday, their first home win in the league since Boxing Day.
Main is impressed by the resilience being shown by his former club, who welcome Aberdeen to Fir Park on Friday, and has warned Well the Dons are determined to clinch European football for a seventh season in a row.
He said: “We’re well aware of what’s at stake in the league table and we’ll be going there with the right motivation. Hopefully, we can deliver a top performance and a good result.
“I missed the win at Fir Park after getting sent off, but by all accounts we were very good that day and hopefully we can do something similar.
“I’m looking forward to going back there, but with what is at stake it’s all about trying to get the three points. It’s a different game, away from home, third spot is on the line, and the manager will do what he deems fit.
“We’ve got the motivation and determination to get what we want. There has been a lot of change down there so I’m not too familiar with what is going on. I don’t have an insight into what is going on, but they are having a good season competing with us for third spot but we want to keep it.”
The Dons trailed at the break to a Christian Doidge goal but following Steven Whittaker’s dismissal early in the second half Hibernian capitulated.
Adam Jackson’s own goal levelled the game in the 64th minute before Andy Considine put the Dons 2-1 up two minutes later. Main’s late goal secured the points for Derek McInnes’ side as they snapped a run of four straight home league defeats.
For Main, who has endured two tough afternoons against Hibs this season, victory was a sweet moment to savour.
He said: “My red card in the last game here against them wasn’t ideal and down there we took a sore one so it’s nice to take the three points off them.
“As a team we’ve been playing really well and to get the three points was a big result for us and sets us up nicely for Friday.
“It’s happened in a couple of games recently where we’ve fallen behind. It’s not easy to come from behind against good sides, but we got after them well.
“We’ve shot ourselves in the foot in the last few games, but we’re showing the character to keep turning difficult positions into positive results. We don’t want to make a habit of it, but it’s a positive that we’ve fought back.”