Jens Berthel Askou fixed on securing top-four finish for Motherwell

Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou is honing in on the target of European football ahead of a crucial encounter with Hibernian.

The Steelmen sit six points above Hibs in fourth place in the William Hill Premiership with only the top four guaranteed European football, unless Celtic win the Scottish Cup.

Askou, whose side are looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats for the second time this season, said: “Obviously top six was a big target because, if you don’t get in the top six after the split, then it’s very, very hard to go into Europe unless you win the Scottish Cup. And we are out of that.

“So obviously we are there now in the top six, and we are in a position in the league where we are trying to reach out for everything we can.

“Obviously, getting into Europe and getting these qualification matches after the summer break is something that we are really ambitious about.”

The Dane is not using the league table as a motivation at this stage, though, as Hibs bid to cut the deficit.

“I know there’s this expression in football that you look up or you look down, because people can understand the context of looking at a league table,” he said.

“But we look up when the ball is in the air, and then we look down when the ball is right at our feet.

“Besides that, we check our shoulders all the time, make sure that we know what’s going on around us, and then we try to look forward.

“That’s mainly the direction we look in, because staring at a league table won’t make us better.

“But we are fully aware that we are in a position now in the league where we would love to stay in, and then reach out for whatever’s possible from there. And we are doing our very, very best and have done so far to get here.

“Now the season is finishing, and as it is now, we have Hibs behind us. And I am pretty sure that they are doing everything they can to see if they can get as many points so they can to get past us, and maybe more.

“So we understand the importance of the game in terms of how the league table might look at the end of the season, and we are really excited by that challenge, because it’s a big game against a team that we have played some really intense and also dramatic games against this season.”