John Hughes laid down the challenge to his players at the weekend, setting out a target of at least third place in the Clydesdale Bank SPL - their response was clear at Celtic Park last night, every man in the side knew that he would have to work harder than ever to take something from the game, and they did just that - with interest.

The manager was quite rightly well pleased with the events of a tense evening, Hibernian having to defend for most of the game but always with that threat that Celtic had to be wary of - and which in the end proved their undoing. While confessing that on the night the home side were perhaps unfortunate, he was full of pride for the efforts of his own side: "I am delighted for the boys, not so much me because I am quite a level headed guy and have been in football a long time, but I am delighted for the boys. Since they have come into the club they have given me absolutely everything they have on the training field and out on the park and I think this is possibly the result of all the hard work we have put in.

"What we need to get into them is a little bit of belief that they can come to Glasgow and pick up the points and hopefully this result will go a long way to doing that. I am honest enough to say in my assessment that I thought Celtic were the better side, they passed the ball better and had better retention - but that doesn't always win you football matches as I have seen many a time with my former club. It was a matter of keeping our shape and making sure we stayed in the game and I am thankful that we are coming away with three points."  It was a combination of good goalkeeping, good defending - and that bit of good fortune that invariably is required to take anything away from Parkhead.

After a terrible start that saw Hibernian go behind after just 4 minutes, the Easter Road side gradually eased their way back and enjoyed their best spell of the match in the final 20 minutes of the first half: "I just felt that we rode our luck and our goalkeeper had some good saves, we defended manfully and we played some good stuff in the first half - although a lot of that was in our own half - and we got in at half time still in the match. The game plan was to ensure our shape was right and to try and hit them on the counter. That is what we did and thankfully we got the goal from Galbraith. Even if we hadn't got the winner there would have been plenty of positives to take away with young Wotherspoon outstanding - as was Paul Hanlon - and that is two 19-year-olds.

"We also had young Galbraith, who is just 18, come on and get the winner and Stokesy is still a baby too so we are a young team and with a result like this they can take great confidence from it and we can improve."   Galbraith's late, late winner brought protests of offside from the Celtic camp but video replays show his timing was perfect - and his finish superb: "He came through Manchester United so he has been well groomed, he is a fit kid who just needs to believe in himself. It is my job to get the best out of him, he is just a baby who is being involved with the first team for the first time, but he is a credit to work with. He has had a lot of injuries - he was out for over a year through injury - and we have just been getting him in for wee bits and pieces. He did well tonight and I was screaming at him to believe in himself because he could be the match winner. I am delighted he took my advice on board!"

A stunning evening's work then that put Hibernian back in third slot - only two points behind Celtic - and ever the comedian Hughes was quick with his reply when asked if this was the best night as Hibernian manager: "No, the best thing was when I became manager!"