Sodje was surprised to meet upbeat Hibees

One look at the SPL table had told the much-travelled Charlton Athletic striker his new club were in trouble, anchored near the foot of the league and without a win in their previous 12 matches.

Instead, the hitman, who turned 31 on the day he switched from London to Edinburgh, found it packed with players determined to haul themselves away from the danger zone.

The first step towards that goal was taken barely 48 hours later as Calderwood's side defeated St Mirren 2-0 at Easter Road, opening up a five-point gap on basement outfit Hamilton with Sodje celebrating his debut by setting up Derek Riordan for the opening goal.

Revealing he was somewhat taken aback to find a club of Hibs' stature in such a lowly position, the 6ft 2in forward said: "Sometimes these things surprise you, sometimes not.

"Football is a very funny game, you can have the best team ever and struggle so I think this season is just one of those seasons but we are definitely going to get out of it.

"You look at the table and think 'that's not Hibs'. When I came here I thought heads would be down because of the relegation fight but everyone has been positive. We are going to keep our heads up, the manager has never been down about anything and every single player, everyone here has been fantastic."

Sodje revealed there were two factors which convinced him to taste Scottish football for the first time, Calderwood, whom he knew from his time as manager at Nottingham Forest, and the stature of Hibs, his brother Efe having enjoyed a trial period at Easter Road having impressed former boss Alex McLeish during a pre-season friendly against Macclesfield.

Efe is now player-coach with Bury and another brother, Sam, is with Notts County, both of whom Sodje consulted before committing himself to an 18-month contract in a green and white shirt. He said: "I always speak to my brothers before making career decisions. Efe told me this was a big club and I should go for it.

"I spoke to the manager and decided to come here right away. He has a good repuation in England and I know that when he was manager of Nottingham Forest they were always a very hard team to beat, a team that played good football which is is way here.

"I knew the likes of Liam Miller and Graham Stack from England and I knew Derek Riordan was a top-class player. I'd watched him on television but I don't think you know how hard he works and the contribution he brings to the team until you play with him.

"For him to get on the scoresheet against St Mirren was fantastic. Derek, Liam and Graham are all top players and I'm just glad we have them in our team along with the youngsters at this club."

Although he believes many of his new team-mates have found themselves in such a predicament for the first time in their careers, Sodje revealed he has past experience of winning the fight against relegation and insisted the only remedies were hard work and a self-belief.

He said: "I was in exactly the same position a couple of years ago with Sheffield Wednesday and stayed up. And here I think we we are going in the right direction, on the training ground and in our last game.

"We have to take every single game as a cup final. You need to work hard, hard, hard. If you start to think negatively that's when things go badly for you. If you make a mistake you have to forget about it and go again."

"If you lost a game you have to look forward to the next one. Against St Mirren every player, not just the 11 on the pitch made a contribution."

And for those down south who would belittle the Scottish game, Sodje answered: "I think the standard is fantastic, absolutely fantastic. You can't just turn up and win a game, you have to work hard.

"It's a fresh challenge."