Calderwood says strength of bench is key to Hibs' revival

Hibs boss Colin Calderwood believes the strength of his bench lies behind the Easter Road outfit's revival which has seen them clock up six games without defeat to power away from the relegation zone. The Edinburgh club maintained their unbeaten run by fighting back to claim a late equaliser against St Johnstone with substitutes Ricardo Vaz Te, Darryl Duffy and Lewis Stevenson playing their part.

Calderwood handed former Bolton Wanderers frontman Vaz Te a debut at McDiarmid Park, replacing top scorer Derek Riordan at half-time, while it was Duffy's ball across the six-yard box which led to David Wotherspoon scoring in a match which saw goalkeeper Mark Brown recalled for the injured Graham Stack.

The Easter Road manager, who strengthened his squad with a raft of January transfers, said: "We stressed before the game that we had a super bench and that certainly helped, we needed them all.

"But within the team we can make one or two changes to make ourselves different without changing personnel. There's a flexibility I like."

An example of that flexibility in Perth came as utility man Ian Murray and 19-year-old defender Callum Booth swapped positions, the youngster, who the manager admitted had been running on empty as the rigours of first-team football took its toll on him, eventually being replaced by Stevenson who had stepped from the bench a week earlier to score his first Hibs goal against Inverness Caley.

The move came as Hibs trailed to Richie Towell's own goal and was given the thumbs-up by Murray.

The club captain said: "The manager said before the game he might switch it. Danny Invincibile was causing us problems on our left because he is direct so it was probably the right decision to make."