Hibernian head coach Jack Ross feels his side will be better equipped for their third semi-final of the season after surviving a major scare against Motherwell.

Hibs will be back at Hampden for the third time in six months on May 8 or 9 after beating Well on penalties after a dramatic Scottish Cup quarter-final.

Hibs appeared to be easing into the last four after Jackson Irvine netted from an offside position with 10 minutes left to add to Christian Doidge's second-half opener.

But goals from Ricki Lamie and Tony Watt took the game to an absorbing extra 30 minutes before the hosts prevailed 4-2 in a shoot-out.

Ross was proud of his players for steadying themselves after Motherwell's late comeback and doing enough to make it four consecutive semi-final appearances.

The previous two have come under Ross, a 2-1 defeat by Hearts in last year's delayed Scottish Cup semi-finals and a 3-0 loss to St Johnstone in the Betfred Cup.

"We set big ambitions at the start of the season and winning a cup was one of them," he said.

"I think there was nothing wrong with us doing that as a club but the players have got to stand up to that.

"We have been close, two semi-finals to date and now we are in a third.

"We've grown as the season has gone at handling bigger games and pressure. I know we were 2-0 up but that can happen in games, I don't think that was us not 'handling' it.

"They are group that have grown together and that's another test we've passed.

"The semi-finals have been strange occasions. It was very fine margins against Hearts and first half against St Johnstone we were excellent, second half we were dreadful and that's the bit we'll remember and the end result we accept is how you are judged.

"We just want to win it. We won't care if we are horrific on the day as long as we win it.

"When you've had the pain of losing these last two semi-finals, we want to make sure we have the elation of getting through. When it comes around I know we will have a group determined to go and win it."

Motherwell came alive after bringing on Watt, who unexpectedly made himself available despite a heel problem, and Steven Lawless and changing from a 3-5-2 to what was effectively a 4-2-4 formation.

Manager Graham Alexander had no regrets about not deploying the adventurous approach earlier.

"You don't want to be chasing the game early on," he said. "We've lost some important players in certain areas so had to change the way we played.

"Between their three forwards, they have a fantastic goal record, and they didn't have a shot on target in the first half.

"I do regret the way we started the second half, we didn't put pressure on them and it was too easy to get to our final third. We know we can defend the first goal better.

"But Hibs have qualified for Europe and been in two semi-finals already. Over the piece, we showed we're a very good team."