Hibs 0-3 Celtic: Accies and Saints loom large

Increasingly the outcome of the matches of St Mirren and Hamilton are becoming just as significant to Hibs fans as those of their own games, the inability of Colin Calderwood's players to secure the necessary points to lift themselves clear of the SPL drop zone leaving each and every one of them living on their nerves.

Today Hibs sit in a precarious position, just four wins in 20 league games leaving them a few goals better off than the Buddies and a mere four points ahead of basement outfit Hamilton who, don't forget, have a game in hand. Hibs, of course, still have their fate in their own hands but events elsewhere can't be ignored.

Calerwood and his players may insist they are looking forward rather than back, but no-one can blame the supporters for continually glancing over their shoulders - for they have been here before.

Thirteen years ago, to be precise, when, after the first 20 games of the season, one which started so promisingly with a 2-1 win over Celtic at Easter Road, Hibs had managed just three victories. Today the tally of wins stands at four, the Edinburgh club a single point better off than they were in season 1997/98 and, like it or not, very much again embroiled in a battle against relegation.

Seven successive matches without a win following those back-to-back triumphs over Rangers and Motherwell which, alas, have proved to be nothing more than another false dawn, leaving one and all thoroughly disillusioned, the campaign having begun with Hibs looking forward to Europa League football and equalling, if not bettering, last season's fourth place finish.

Worrying enough, but no doubt the Easter Road hierachy will have taken note of the fact that many Hibs fans now appear resigned to their fate, this comprehensive defeat by SPL leaders Celtic provoking a predictable, if cursory, outbreak of jeering, something which has become a familiar companion to the final whistle in recent weeks.

This time round the angry voices were much more muted although there was the first visible sign of dissent, a banner reading "Petrie, Splash the Cash or Quit" directed not only at chairman Rod Petrie but his fellow directors. The irony that it was displayed at the front of the new East Stand, built earlier this year at a cost of more than 3?million, was obviously lost on those who raised it.

The message, however, was clear: Hibs badly need an injection of new blood, Calderwood having over the course of his few months in charge having tried virtually every permutation to come up with a winning formula without, other than what proved to be a temporary blip, success.

It is a fact which, of course, hasn't gone un-noticed by the manager who, contrary to the point those fans were trying to convey to the board, pronounced himself satisfied with the financial backing he's been promised as he seeks to bring the new faces, both needed and required, to Easter Road.

However, it has turned out to be easier said than done, Calderwood having revealed the transfer landscape during the January "window" was proving changeable almost by the hour, an observation supported by so little business having been done although as the deadline approaches minds are likely to be more focused and the merry-go-round likely to begin whirling that bit faster.

Not quickly enough for those disgruntled fans but, before speeding off to watch another potential target - thought to be Inverness Caley striker Adam Rooney - Calderwood insisted he'd been working as hard, if not harder, than any other manager in this respect.

He said: "This week we looked as if we would've had a couple of additions and perhaps more. But for various reasons everything broke down, that is a catalogue of woe."

Calderwod, though, hasn't given up hope, revealing: "What I think will happen is one or two might get reignited and one or two we're going to have to look in a different area for the personnel we require. We've failed. One or two will come back to us, one or two will be looking at pastures new."

Adding he'd be happy the way things have gone to simply get that first signing out of the way, while conscious the individual will be expected to make an immediate impact upon arrival, Calderwood also disclosed that while he may not get what he particularly wants, he knows exactly what he needs.

"Ideally we're going to need someone who is accustomed to a fight and ready for it. I would doubt if we would get the ready-made package. They'll know the situation and I would like it to be someone from the British Isles, used to the British game, so there's no settling in period."

The fact Hibs need a combative character, someone with the ability to cajole, encourage and, dare we say it, bully his team-mates is beyond doubt, results since August having taken an obvious toll on confidence and morale although the current players would argue differently.

And, while they'd also argue otherwise, so, too, must the current situation regarding the contracts of so many. Hibs went into this season knowing 16 of the squad would see their deal run out by the time it came to an end, little or nothing having apparently been done other than Sol Bamba's 250,000 move, youngster Lee Currie being released and Kevin McBride being told he's free to go while Colin Nish has turned down the chance of a lucrative move to China.

Question marks still hang over the remainder and, contrary to what Calderwood and the individuals concerned might say, growing uncertainty over the future in an increasingly fraught economic climate can hardly induce any feeling of well-being among those concerned. Not so, claimed Calderwood who said: "That's probably the furthest thing from the truth. I see really good integrity and honesty about them and they hurt, whether they've got four or five months or two or three years left. That's the smallest problem we have, I would say."

Problems there are aplenty, of that there is no doubt, as Celtic highlighted once again, Neil Lennon's side taking their time to warm-up against a Hibs team content on containment and looking to hit their opponents on the break. It was a strategy that looked fine as long as it worked, but with too many mis-placed passes and the reliance of Derek Riordan as a lone striker, pressure finally began to build.

And like a dam, once the first cracks appeared, they quickly widened until a torrent poured through. Daniel Majstorovic had, unbelievably, headed wide from six yards and Hibs goalkeeper Mark Brown had thrust out a boot to deny Gary Hooper a goal by the time the former Scunthorpe United hitman celebrated his return from injury with the deftest of finishes just before half-time.

As Calderwood commented: "A wee bit of nous and experience might have helped, the last thing you needed was the goal", both Steven Thicot and Francis Dickoh having been drawn to Anthony Stokes before he released the ball for his team-mate. After the interval it was the Stokes show, the former Hibs striker converting from the spot after being felled by Lewis Stevenson and then hooking home a superb third for Celtic after being afforded too much room at a corner.

Both instances were, again, very much down to Hibs shortcomings, Dickoh, Brown and Paul Hanlon on three further occasions denying their former team-mate his hat-trick although Hibs were left to muse what might have happened when, two goals down, only a late, late offside flag prevented Danny Galbraith throwing them a lifeline.

Somehow, from somewhere, Calderwood needs to find that lifeline, and soon.