Hibs boss urges players to rise above poor form at Ayr

The Easter Road boss is well aware that having earned a replay thanks to a no-scoring draw at Easter Road ten days ago, many now expect Brian Reid's team to emerge victorious from tonight's replay at Somerset Park.

He's convinced the television cameras and a pack of sports writers will be attracted to the match by the prospect of recording a giant-killing act given the miserable run of results which has seen Hibs anchored at the foot of the SPL table – their latest loss, a 3-0 home defeat to Celtic, coming on Saturday.

But, he insisted, it will be up to his players to show they can deal with such pressure, urging them to begin winning back their disgruntled supporters by earning their place in the fifth round against either St Mirren or Peterhead.

Declaring himself "confident, very confident," of getting things right despite having won only two of his first 13 matches in charge, Calderwood said: "We have to have an improvement. We have to get the fans invigorated again – this cup tie might be something that helps.

"If we get through it will lift everyone so I think the intention is to put on a performance where people will raise their eyebrows and look at the application in the difficult circumstances we face – the reason why the cameras and plenty of press will be there, the chance of an upset."

However, while admitting Ayr, now top of the Second Division after their weekend win over Alloa, themselves pose a threat, Calderwood agreed his side couldn't afford to continue making the same mistakes which have proved so costly in recent weeks.

Citing the lack of concentration either side of half-time which effectively clinched the match for Celtic as Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes scored, he said: "It has been a revolving wheel and we have gone right through every section of making a mistake and finding ourselves behind and then you add into that it has been a different player.

"What is hard for them is that we're not getting the first goal. We go behind and it becomes almost a groundhog day situation but they showed terrific response against Dundee United and Aberdeen, going behind at home and getting themselves back into both games although, obviously, we lost to Aberdeen."

Calderwood, though, warned scoring first tonight wouldn't guarantee his side victory although he does believe his players will benefit from the knowledge gained from their first meeting with Ayr.

He said: "If we score the first goal I don't think it will be so decisive. Whatever happens there will be a response by Ayr. We have to break the deadlock, then it's being able to handle what happens after that.

"If Ayr score first we have to be ready for that and the response we have to give. But we are fully used to going behind.

"Tonight is an examination of ourselves. What we produce will be an indication of what we are as a club and as people. We will give it 100 per cent, we have to win more challenges than Ayr, we've got to be particularly tight in terms of the shape of our team and in the end we've got to have a goal threat."