Graeme Smith played only his fourth game for Hibernian on Saturday - and the signs are he will be very difficult to unseat from the No.1 slot as he turned in one a superb performance on which his side could build an emphatic 5-1 victory. Even before Colin Nish had opened the scoring the goalkeeper had pulled off a couple of stunning blocks, and thanks to a Hamilton side that just did not given up Smith was probably the most active player on the park.

It was Hibernian's clinical finishing that was the telling factor in this game, and in the final analysis you could easily feel for the visitors who had to suffer a final result that perhaps did not reflect the game itself. Hibernian put in a fine performance, no mistake about that - the quality of the goals was as high as you are likely to see in the Clydesdale Bank SPL this season - but Hamilton created as many openings, only to find the man between the sticks at the top of his game.

Smith was typically understating his contribution to the game, putting team first in his post-match analysis: "It was great for the club to get onto winning ways and hopefully when we look at the table it is a little bit better. Personally I just want to do well week-in, week-out and for the club, if that is the case then I will be happy. It has just felt right being here from the minute that I walked through the door and when you're comfortable in yourself then you play your best. "   Graeme could have been a Hibernian player in the summer, and admitted it was a close call - but in the event it was right at the opening of the January window before he finally made the decision to come to Easter Road.

"I knew what it was all about here in the summer - I had a sneaky look around the place. The manager and the chairman have made some investment in the team and they have promoted a number of young boys from the youth side as well, and it is a credit to them that at that age that they are doing well for a good club. Hopefully we can all pull together and the manager can make one or two new signing that will take us forward."   That said the goalkeeper has now had a chance to assess the quality of the players around him - and is liking what he has seen: "There is no question that with the ability we have in the squad we can achieve third place. It's all to do with attitude, mind set and hard work. More and more as a football player I feel that luck does play its part and hopefully we get that from now until the end of the season.

"We have to continue to play well and it is important obviously to get the results. Everyone went away happy with the result against Hamilton and hopefully we can do the same in the coming weeks."   Graeme now looks certain to retain his place in the side for the visit to Parkhead on Wednesday, and he has little doubt that Hibernian can do a job there: "You go there and you have to have that belief that you can play well, you will need a bit of luck but it is what you do as individuals. I went there as a 20-year-old with Ross County and although they eventually beat us I felt we were unlucky that day.

"They are going to be favourites but if we apply ourselves and go there with a belief we can do well as a team. It will take 13-14 of us to go there and do well including the subs and you just hope that the game goes a certain way."