Calderwood: Hibs players didn't hide

HIBS boss Colin Calderwood today hailed his players for refusing to "hide" during the club's dismal run and claimed they had earned their just reward for showing a professional attitude with back-to-back wins in the SPL.

He insisted his players, though obviously realising the seriousness of the situation, had remained remarkably positive when the side went 12 games without a win to slip down the table.

"No-one came in to training at any point feeling sorry for themselves - they came in and were really professional about it," said Calderwood.

"They understood the position but they didn't go and hide. We didn't really have to lift them at all at the training centre and they were professional."

That attitude, allied to the manager bringing in some new players during the January transfer window, has led to two morale-boosting home wins over St Mirren and, most recently, a 2-1 success over Kilmarnock last Saturday.

"In the end, we have got a little bit of success for the graft that went in in the weeks where we didn't (win)," added the manager.

Hibs are now eight points ahead of bottom-of-the-table Hamilton and travel to St Mirren on Sunday knowing that a win there would take them six points clear of Danny Lennon's side.

However, Calderwood insisted that they still have a lot of hard work ahead of them after admitting there were parts of last Saturday's game when Kilmarnock were clearly the better side.

"We'll need to put our heads down again and we'll need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say 'there's periods of that game where we need to be better'," he added.

"But we've had to match a good team and overall we've done it.

"We stressed to the team at half-time that it was going to be a 90-minute slog and we were going to have to work incredibly hard off the ball to try and limit them in the way they play, which is terrific.

"And we did that. They grafted, they really dug a victory out of a performance where we were never on top of the game."

Meanwhile, Hibs will face Rangers away in the semi-finals of the Scottish FA Youth Cup following the draw made yesterday by SFA president George Peat.

The tie between two recent winners - Hibs lifted the trophy in 2009, 12 months after Rangers - will be played on Sunday, March 27.

Livingston are also away, to holders Celtic, in the other tie.