Scott McDonald helped Motherwell clinch a UEFA Cup spot on Sunday and the Celtic striker now wants his former team to do the Bhoys a favour.Stephen McManus and McDonald earned Celtic a 2-0 lead against Hibernian at Parkhead on Sunday, a result that stretched their lead over Rangers to four points and also ended Hibs' European hopes at the expense of Motherwell.

Celtic have only one SPL game left, against Dundee United at Tannadice, while challengers Rangers have three, one of which is against Mark McGhee's side.

McDonald revealed that some Motherwell players had urged him to help the Lanarkshire club achieve European football for the first time in 13 years and now he is looking for them to return the favour.

He said: "I had a few text messages from my ex-team mates before the game asking me to do them a favour.

"So congratulations to them, that is them home and dry and I'm delighted for them.

"Hopefully they can go and do us a favour now.

"It is kind of strange that we have 11 days until we play United but we will be more than ready when it comes round.

"Hopefully there will be a lot at stake. Hopefully Rangers slip and we have a chance of winning the league by that point.

"I don't know if Rangers will slip up, it's still in their hands.

"But it's about how they react after the UEFA Cup final and how it goes for them.

"I wish them all the best for that but not in the league."

McDonald added: "I was happy with our performance against Hibs although at 1-0 the game is never over. You can feel the tension in the ground until you get the second goal.

"But now there's one game to go and we have to wait and see what happens."

An afternoon that began with promise for Hibs ended in misery after the Leith club finished the game with nine men following the late dismissals of defenders Martin Canning and Ian Murray.

Canning was sent off after receiving two yellow cards, the second for a foul on Celtic midfielder Barry Robson.

Murray was shown a straight red card in injury time for a cynical foul on Aiden McGeady that owed everything to frustration.

Easter Road manager Mixu Paatelainen said: "I didn't see Martin Canning's second booking.

"I was about to replace him with Colin Nish and go for it but I was too late.

"But Ian could have done something else to slow him (McGeady) down rather than just taking a swipe at him

"It was a disappointing day. We passed the ball well but again, like last week (against Rangers), we didn't take our chances.

"I am disappointed to miss out in UEFA Cup, but when I came to Hibs in January, I thought Dundee United and Motherwell were too far ahead so it's a bonus that we managed to challenge them.

"I think we deserve credit for that."

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