Calderwood calls on Hibs to make Easter Road a fortress

Hibs manager Colin Calderwood insisted today that his side must try to turn Easter Road back into a fortress, starting with the visit of St Johnstone tomorrow.

Hibs have won just two of their six home games in the SPL so far this season but new manager Calderwood is determined to make their home ground a formidable venue for opposition teams once again. They won their last match on home soil, against Motherwell, and Calderwood reckons that his side are beginning to work as a real solid unit.

He's hoping that to reap the benefits tomorrow and said: "I think we're ready for the game, they have been excellent again through the week.

"They came in Monday and got about their business, shown a great appetite for doing their job and it has been really heartwarming in cold weather to see how they go about it. They group have become tighter. Like anything we try and learn from the ups and down and the mistakes we made last week. We have to try and make Easter Road a bit of a fortress and us a difficult team to beat and a hard team. We have to be progressive."

Valdas Trakys, who missed last weekend's defeat to Inverness with a calf strain, has not trained with the rest of the squad this week and is doubtful again for the visit of Derek McInnes' side.

Goals from Liam Craig and Marcus Haber gave the Perth side a 2-0 victory back in October at McDiarmid Park and Calderwood believes that St Johnstone will again provide his side with a real test at Easter Road tomorrow.

He said: "I have seen an awful lot of them and they're a well disciplined team with an obvious physical threat."