Ross said: "You saw by the reaction of the players and staff how much it meant to us.

"It's been the driver from day one and it was a realistic ambition but also a big one. It's been 15 years since we finished in that position.

"We asked the group to be honest and they felt they could finish third. I thought that was a big target but achievable and they've shown brilliant resilience and character to do that.

"It's been a brilliant season and it'll be outstanding if they can win the cup final as well.

"It's a bonus that we've secured third and Saturday has no significance on league position so we will use the squad and everything now is about being successful on May 22. It'll be good reward for some of the players who haven't played many minutes lately."

Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass was full of praise for his side, who he felt were the better on the night, but admits his time at the club so far has been about evaluation.

"Any time you lose is frustrating, but the manner of the performance shows there's something valuable to build on," Glass said. "You saw a team that moved the ball quick and was very dangerous. They were the better team in my opinion.

"We lost so that's frustrating but in terms of performance level the players were excellent.

"Hibs had that one real opportunity and they took it. It's disappointing from our point of view, but we made opportunities we should have done better with and the performance level was brilliant.

"This period coming in since the start of April has given us the opportunity to see what we'd like to change. It's a constant evaluation and it'll be the same next summer. That's been hugely valuable to us."