Fenlon: Players must give all to earn Hampden places

Hibs had the better of the second half, but any dissatisfaction the Irishman felt at their inability to claim all three points was countered by their solidity in defence.

“It wasn’t a classic game, but I think on chances we shaded it,” Fenlon said. “But we were pleased with the clean sheet.

“We lost three goals last week, three the week before and four before that. But I thought the back four were good, so that’s probably the most pleasing thing.”

While Hibs looked eager to win the game at times in the second half, there was an end-of-season feel about the contest. Fenlon, however, said that players who wanted to be included in his cup-final squad should be aware they were expected to apply themselves in the remaining four league matches. “There’s still plenty to play for here over the closing weeks of the season. We want to finish seventh: that’s the target.

“We still have to play Hearts and we want to extend our run against them. And we have a cup final to look forward to.

So it shouldn’t be difficult for anyone to keep themselves focused. And if they want to play in the cup final they have got to ensure when they play they give their all.”

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes was relatively happy with his first game in charge, but suggested that if anything some players had been trying too hard to impress him. “I thought it was a committed performance with a lot of effort on show,” he said. “Sometimes when a manager comes in there are a few players put of contract and a bit of uncertainty, there can sometimes be a bit of energy, and I thought we were maybe a bit frantic at times.

“I thought we forgot to play. We were well worthy of our point, but I don’t think we did enough to win the game.

“We tried a few different formations up top to try and pose more of a threat. I didn’t ever think we were going to lose the game.

“Griffiths was through on goal in the first half and had a quality strike in the second half, and Jamie [Langfield] did well to bat that away. Other than that I didn’t feel we were going to lose the game, but I wasn’t convinced we were going to win it.

“It was probably a performance and a result that shows where we are in the table at the minute. There’s certainly work to be done.”

McInnes accepted the match had been short of entertainment for the crowd, but said there were mitigating circumstances. “It was pretty poor fare for the majority. But you’ve got to be fair to the players – it was treacherous out there.

“The pitch is awful and the conditions were hard. The wind was blowing all over the place, and we always felt a mistake or a real bit of quality was going to win it. We never showed enough quality to win it, and Hibs never made a mistake, like ourselves. We came to win the game and we’ve come away only half pleased.”