Calderwood admits he expected Hibs to be a tough job

Defeats by Aberdeen, Dundee United and Capital rivals Hearts have left Calderwood's players separated from the bottom place in the SPL table only by goal difference with the daunting prospect of facing champions and League leaders Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow night.

While stating the obvious in saying ideally he'd have liked to have taken something from those games, Calderwood said: "I don't think it is a bigger or tougher job than I thought, it's as I envisaged it. The challenge would not have been lessened even if we had taken points. So the job is exactly what I thought it would be.

"There have been other moments in my career that have been equal to or even beyond this, that is just the ebb and flow of football.

"What you have to do is come out on the other side going strong. I see glimpses of player personality and ability which give me food for thought. There is strength of character where, if this happens again, we will have had this experience and can come through it because we have to."

While Calderwood insists his players are buoyant on the training ground, that is not translating into performances on the pitch, the 2-0 defeat by Hearts an abject display which has many fans worrying they'll be watching a side embroiled in a relegation fight this season.

Calderwood did admit too many individual mistakes are being made, saying: "There are a lot of issues to improve on. What is letting them down is individual errors which have been spread around virtually everyone.

"That is where the big improvement has to be. What we have to do is lessen the number of mistakes."

Meanwhile, Calderwood has revealed Derek Riordan has apologised to his team-mates after being shown the red card in the dying minutes of the derby for a reckless lunge at Hearts star Rudi Skacel.

Riordan has also been disciplined by the club but Calderwood insisted the incident won't prevent him handing the armband to the striker in future.