Captain Rob Jones has warned in-form Hibernian not to pass up the chance of booking a UEFA Cup place for next season through their SPL finish.The fifth-placed Easter Road outfit have climbed to within two points of European rivals Dundee United and Motherwell courtesy of Wednesday's 1-0 home win over the Fir Park side.

With United idle from league duty due to Sunday's CIS Insurance Cup final and Well entertaining Celtic in Saturday's early kick-off, Hibs could leap into third spot if they beat Kilmarnock in Edinburgh.

After a disappointing 10-game winless league run, the capital club have now turned the corner with five victories in their last six games.

Now Jones is eager for that impressive spell to continue to avoid spoiling all their hard work.

The 28-year-old centre-half said: "It's important to move forward now. We have won five out of six and got ourselves in a decent position, but there is a long way to go.

"It's up to us to continue that. There is no point having a run such as that and then falling away again.

"It's nice to be involved in the fight for Europe, but we're not naive, there is still an awful long way to go with 27 points still to play for, so anything could happen.

"Europe is an incentive but all we can do now is look forward to Kilmarnock on Saturday and see where we go from there.

"It was up to ourselves to get us out of the situation we were in and, thankfully, we've done it quite well."

Jones, fit again after a number of injury niggles, is unsure how Hibs have turned the corner but feels confidence is probably part of the answer.

The Englishman believes new manager Mixu Paatelainen has helped develop a stronger squad spirit, something lacking under the previous regime of John Collins.

He said: "I honestly don't know why we've turned it round, but I think the players who came in during the January transfer window have made a big difference - fresh faces, new ideas.

"The new manager has also come in and stamped his authority straight away, which is a good thing, but I can't really pinpoint one specific thing.

"The gaffer has instilled a lot of confidence, when confidence was low when he first arrived. Training has also become fresher under his assistant, Donald Park."

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