Hibs proved their mettle, says Jack Ross after semi-final win

Hibernian "proved" Jack Ross' belief in his players by winning a semi-final for the first time on his watch.

The 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Dundee United followed a defeat to Hearts in last season's last four and losing to St Johnstone in this season's League Cup semi-finals.

Kevin Nisbet and Christian Doidge got Hibs' goals to set up a 22 May meeting with St Mirren or St Johnstone.

"Right now, it's just a moment to savour," Ross told BBC Scotland.

• Hibs beat Dundee United to reach final

• Reaction & as it happened

"To get to semi-finals and the soreness of the two defeats and to have the strength of character to want to come here again, it's such a happy changing room.

"Truth is when you get to semi-finals, there are fine margins and there are two teams that have got to lose them. People will sometimes make more of them than there is but we wanted to keep getting here to put ourselves in that position.

"I believed the players would prove they were good. You do need the things to fall your way at certain times of the game and that maybe happened for us.

"I would've taken any sort of win but I thought I got a win that was fitting of the levels this season. It's a brilliant, exciting end to the season for us."

Doidge was clearly offside when he struck Hibs' second, but Dundee United manager Micky Mellon accepted his side lost to the better team.

"Everybody knows it was offside," Mellon told BBC Scotland. "They are big moments that go against you and you've got to get them right.

"I'm not going to stand here and say that I didn't think Hibs played particularly well. They probably deserved over the course of the whole game to go through."