Hibs: David Wotherspoon hopeful two goals in six matches will lead to further net gains

But, the Scotland Under-21 midfield star today revealed he hopes his strikes against St Mirren and St Johnstone during the Edinburgh outfit's six-match unbeaten run will lead to his name featuring far more often among the club's goal-scorers.

Wotherspoon marked his debut by scoring in a 2-1 win over St Mirren on the opening day of last season but had to wait for the Buddies' visit to Easter Road at the beginning of last month to claim his second in a green-and-white shirt. His strike that night secured a 2-0 win for Colin Calderwood's side, kicking off a run of five consecutive wins which propelled Hibs away from the relegation zone which had become too close for comfort.

If his latest goal wasn't enough to bring victory it did, he insisted, earn a precious point against his hometown club, McDiarmid Park having become a somewhat tricky destination for Hibs bearing in mind the 5-1 thrashing they took last season and the 2-0 defeat in October which signalled the end of John Hughes' tenure as manager.

As happy as he was to score, his shot ten minutes from time, cancelling out the Richie Towell own goal which was increasngly looking as if it would earn Saints all three points, Wotherspoon admitted he thought he'd missed the opportunity when team-mate Darryl Duffy's effort screwed across the face of the six-yard box and into his path. He said: "I thought it was coming back out. I didn't catch the ball as cleanly as I intended and I was delighted to see it go in off the underside of the bar.

"Any goal, though, is a good goal and I think a draw was a good result considering we'd hardly got out of our own half in the first 45 minutes."

With both Hibs and Saints chasing a top six finish, Wotherspoon admitted it was a match Calderwood's side couldn't afford to lose although the eventual outcome was probably welcomed more by the other sides chasing that spot.

He said: "Saints are level on points with us so we knew we couldn't be beaten. It was a scrappy game, the surface wasn't great for passing the ball on but we dug in and I think we were happy with the point.

"We haven't had a good past at McDiarmid Park and before the game the manager told us we needed to compete in every aspect of the game.

"We did not start well but our comeback in the second half was good.It looked as if time was running out, I was looking at the clock in the corner and the gaffer was shouting for us to push on a lot more.

"We wanted to keep our winning streak going, it was always going to come to an end at some point but we've kept our unbeaten run intact."

In doing so, Hibs demonstrated a grit and determination which some felt was lacking earlier in the season when conceding the first goal invariably led to defeat.

Not on this occasion despite Towell's howler, the on-loan Celtic youngster swinging at the ball with his right foot rather than his left and succeeding only in diverting the ball beyond goalkeeper Mark Brown with no opposition player within yards of him.

Wotherspoon, who was once a ball-boy at McDiarmid Park where his brother Ian remains a season ticket holder, said: "Rather than feel the breaks were going against us again we just put it straight out of our minds, got the ball back to the centre circle and got on with the game. It was a silly goal to concede, it was a shame for Richie but we just look to pick each other up, encourage one another and battle back.

"Perhaps there were times when our heads would have gone down a bit had that happened but there's a belief in the squad, everyone is very positive.

We've picked ourselves up, we've got that winning mentality and six matches unbeaten, five of them wins, is a great achievement."

While delighted to have notched another vital goal, Wotherspoon admitted he hasn't got his name on the scoresheet often enough, something he is looking to rectify as he acknowledged he and his team-mates have to do more to take the responsibility of scoring off the shoulders of Derek Riordan.

The hitman, now third in the SPL's all-time scoring chart behind Kris Boyd and Henrik Larsson, is leading the way for Hibs again, the only Easter Road player in double figures so far this season.

And it looks as if he could be out on his own for some time to come with midfielder Liam Miller his closest challenger, the Republic of Ireland star having claimed three goals, the last of which came from the penalty spot against Inverness Caley back in November.

Like Wotherspoon, Francis Dickoh, Paul Hanlon and new striker Akpo Sodje have all scored twice as had Dutch midfielder Edwin de Graaf before he returned on loan to Excelsior in Holland, Sol Bamba prior to his January move to Leicester City and Chris Hogg before switching to Inverness Caley, Hibs having found goals rather harder to come by than last season when Riordan, Anthony Stokes and Colin Nish claimed more than 50 between them.So far this season Nish has netted just one goal as have Callum Booth, Victor Palsson, John Rankin and Lewis Stevenson, leaving Wotherspoon to concede there's plenty of room for others to chip in.

Joking he was happy to have had the fact he's now scored twice as many goals as last season pointed out to him, Wotherspoon, who has stepped forward from full back to right midfield, said: "Of course I want to add goals to my game and hopefully I'll get the chance now I am playing a more attacking role. Derek is the one who scores most, but we need to help him out in that area.

"I don't have a target in mind, I just want to get as many as possible."