Calderwood wants more desire

10 April 2011 10:30

Despite watching his Hibernian side overcome Aberdeen 1-0, manager Colin Calderwood expressed his disappointment in his side's performance.

Akpo Sodje netted the only goal of the game after 15 minutes, but Calderwood was disappointed with the lack of urgency his side showed. The result moved Hibs five points clear of the Dons, but with both teams set to finish the season in the bottom six, a number of young players were blooded by both sides as they look to build for next season.

"I'm pleased with the opening period of the game. We got ourselves into the ascendancy, had some nice phases of play and got ourselves the goal, but we were poor after that," Calderwood said.

"That was quite annoying really. The players looked like they were happy just to get through the game and hope that was enough, but we have to show a bit more desire.

"This is all about improvement, and every time we step on the pitch we've got to see thing that are better. In games where it's difficult we've got to cope better, but that was a game where you could drive on.

"We had control of periods of the game and found ourselves missing chances in the second half, but Aberdeen could have levelled from anything in the box."

Aberdeen boss Craig Brown was also keen to look for positives after watching his side continue a poor run of form with defeat.

However, he was heartened by the performance of his young side, and the way they continued to create chances right to the death.

He said "It was a bit unfortunate, but that's been the story of recent games, where we've had a lot of the ball and a lot of possession but we've not taken our chances. The positive from that is, though, that both sides had half a team of under-21 players in their starting line-ups. I thought it was very good to see.

"Both teams started with five under-21s. We had another five on the bench and Hibs had another one. In terms of looking ahead, both of us are trying to introduce young players and I think that's a positive."

Source: PA