Hibs legend Keith Wright makes a plea for unity

Locked on 38 points but six goal worse off than Motherwell, Wright and his team-mates found themselves second bottom and embroiled in a two-legged play-off against bogey team Airdrie, runners-up to St Johnstone in the First Division, as they fought to save their status in the top flight.

An own goal by Diamonds' Stevie Cooper at Easter Road had given them the slightest of advantages but as the same player lined up to take an early penalty at Airdrie's temporary home of Broadwood, every heart inside a green and white shirt was pounding. Cooper contrived to blase his spot-kick high over Jim Leighton's bar, Darren Jackson twice proved deadly from 12 yards while Wright himself and Paul Tosh also found the net to pull off a 5-2 win on aggregate and survival.

Today, of course, relegation is a more straightforward affair, the bottom side in the SPL will take the drop and while Hamilton currently occupy that position, Hibs are only four points better off having played a game more. As much as it pains Wright to say it, the former striker admitted: "No-one wants to talk about it but you have to be realistic. The table doesn't lie and Hibs need to get themselves out of the situation they are in as quickly as possible.

"You don't want to be looking over your shoulder with five matches to go, things can very quickly get out of your own hands. No-one will do you any favours and the likes of Hamilton and St Mirren have been there before and have the battling qualities required.

"It's a very different pressure being in the top six. It's not what the Hibs fans were looking for at the start of the season but I think if they can get something of a run going and manage to make the top six then it would be a success, considering."

Whether Hibs can appears highly questionable, particularly following their Scottish Cup exit at the hands of the part-time players of Second Division Ayr United, a result which, given the Edinburgh club have enjoyed just two wins in 14 matches under Colin Calderwood has, predictably, prompted talk of just how long the manager can last.

However, the Evening News understands Calderwood's job is not under threat, the Easter Road board determined to give him time to reshape the squad he inherited from former boss John Hughes in October, the ex-Scotland defender having, thus far, failed to make any signings in the January transfer window.

But although it is definitely a tough time to be a Hibs supporter, that's exactly the commodity Wright, now an SFA football development officer with Midlothian Council, believes should be afforded Calderwood.

While accepting football is very much a results driven business, Wright said: "You cannot go changing the manager every six months or each year, you need a consistency in the management team.

"When results aren't going your way fans then put pressure on the board for change and managers don't get the chance to get thoughts and plans across. The manager needs time to build his own squad and to get his ideas over to the players. To my mind you need two years. It's difficult to be a manager now with the transfer windows, at the moment Colin, with all his contacts, will, I am sure, be trying to do what he can to make changes.

"But it is difficult to do that in a month, it's vastly different to the time when a manager could simply go and sign a player regardless of what stage of the season you were in."

Having been at Hibs' last five home matches, however, Wright believes Calderwood has yet to settle on his best XI, citing the constant chopping and changing from match-to-match as evidence of his assessment.

Tuesday night's team at Somerset Park contained seven changes to the side which had faced Celtic last weekend and five from the first clash with Ayr ten days earlier, highlighting Wright's point, the Skol Cup hero adding: "In the games I've been to there's been different personnel in different positions.

"When a team is on a good run you get a consistency of selection but Colin is making continual changes in an effort to get that winning formula, playing different players, different formations."

Calderwood's approach has singularly failed so far, the former Northampton Town and Nottingham Forest boss and assistant to Chris Hughton at Newcastle United, having enjoyed just two wins in 14 attempts. Wright, however, insisted only hard work and a sense of togetherness, from the boardroom to the dressing room, was they key to breathing new life into Hibs' faltering season. He said: "We've all been there, good spells and bad spells, I had them myself during my time at Hibs. The fans naturally want to see you win every game, particularly those at home and when things aren't going well you need brave players who can handle it.

"You need guys who are prepared to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper, to take the ball in tight situations knowing a mistake will have the crowd on their back. You have to stick together, work hard and eventually it will pay off.

"When that happens, the results turn, the fans see the team climbing the table and finally you can look back and say 'we came through that together'.

"All it can take is one result, although we've been saying that for a few weeks now. Obviously everyone was hoping that a win at Ayr would prove to be it, everyone lifted and the prospect of perhaps having a wee run in the Cup to help get things going.

"I do feel for Colin but I am sure that he, Derek Adams and Gareth Evans are all working very hard to get it right. I know the supporters who do pay a lot of their hard earned cash to watch the team are getting anxious but while it is easy for me to say, the secret is to stick together and the better times will come.

"For a club like Hibs it's all about being in the top four and getting to the later stages of the cups. Colin will have that same ambition and I am sure, given time, that's what he will be doing."

Much has been made over recent weeks of the fact the vast majority of Calderwood's players know their contracts expire in a few months' time and that many of them will be facing an uncertain future.

But while empathising with them, Wright insisted that faced with the same predicament there would only be one reaction from him. He said: "I honestly can't see that being a problem. Speaking generally and not seeking to single out individuals, there's a lot of players not performing at their best. Is it the contract situation? For me it would have the opposite effect, players playing out of their skin to get a contract, if not at Hibs to at least put themselves in the shop window.

"There's that old joke about some having their best season when they are coming out of contract but to me it shouldn't be a problem."