Calderwood: Hibs break is well deserved

COLIN CALDERWOOD insisted today that his side deserve their rest this weekend after racking up their first win of 2011.

The Easter Road outfit ended their goals drought and bagged all three points into the bargain with a 2-0 victory over St Mirren on Wednesday night, bringing relief to everyone with a passion for Hibs.

Calderwood, whose side have a free weekend, having been knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the fourth round by Ayr United, was delighted to see Hibs finally getting the reward for the commitment they have shown in recent weeks.

He is keen to see them back in training next week, refreshed and ready for the challenge of helping the team battle their way back up the SPL.

Calderwood conceded that there had been signs of fatigue towards the end of a vital 90 minutes against Danny Lennon's men.

"We don't want too many people in the future tiring like we did in the game against St Mirren but sometimes there is a mental strain and a mental tiredness that has an effect on everyone and I think that they well deserve the rest and recovery that they are going to get in the next two or three days," he said.

"I think that we had a little spell in the first half where we had good entries into the box and we might have done better on one or two occasions, one or two decisions over whether to continue with the ball or shoot could have been better.

"The real benefit from Wednesday night was that we have gained from the experience of previous games and they kept going.

"They didn't dip, they stuck at it, they kept in the game and the crowd kept them in the game, which was terrific."