The drama of the mid-season transfer window unfolded last night with a surprise for Hibernian supporters - and to an extent for manager John Hughes! In the early afternoon Hughes had resigned himself to no further moves taking place, but happy enough in the knowledge that during this window he had laid the foundations of his 'goalkeeping school' at the club with the signings of Graeme Smith and Mark Brown.

Work had gone on throughout the month as enquires were made, but with the deadline approaching the manager was not expecting any further immediate changes to his squad: "We made quite a few enquiries but the door was slammed in our face on a number of occasions, you just need to take that on the chin - it was not for the want of trying. Then again when the window closes it does not mean that there are not other players out there, I would imagine that there are a lot of players now who have freedom of contract so we'll still be looking at that.

"It's similar to Liam Miller at the start of the season - if we find another one like that then we really are doing well."   The manager had noted debate in the Hibernian support with suggestions that he should prioritise a new right back for his squad, however he pointed out that he already has cover in that position: "David Wotherspoon has done very well for us there all season and who is to say he can't continue to do that until the end?

"I also have McCann and McCormack available. Kevin has had a hard time with injuries - he has been very unfortunate but is getting there again. He is a very high quality player, a very real prospect and hopefully I can give him the confidence to go back in there and grab the opportunity."   By the early evening however the manager had cause to smile as it became clear that one of his targets would be arriving at the club, Alan Gow agreeing to sign up on loan until the end of the season.

That came just a few hours after Hibernian TV spoke to Mark Brown after his weekend signing for the club. Brown was watching from the stands as Hibernian clinched their third win in a row on Saturday, having been very impressed by what he had seen at the Hibernian Training Centre. He agreed to join the club from Celtic after talking to John Hughes - his second signing talks with the Hibernian manager, the first having taken place a few years earlier when Hughes was manager at Falkirk and Brown was about to depart Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Hughes failed to clinch a deal as Brown opted for Celtic - but this time the manager was successful, with Brown saying: "As my loan spell at Kilmarnock came to an end, I was made aware of interest from Hibernian. I had spoken about going back to Kilmarnock and I did want away from Celtic sooner rather than later, so I heard about an interest from Hibernian and I came to talk to John Hughes..

"I was immediately impressed in what he had to say, and when things were sorted at the Celtic end I was delighted to sign for the club." Brown knows he has a tough challenge ahead with Stack, Ma-Kalambay and his former team-mate at Rangers, Graeme Smith, already at Easter Road. It is however a challenge he relishes, and he pointed out that the rivalry between goalkeepers is perhaps not as tense as some might suspect: "People do think that goalkeepers don't get on with each other because they are challenging for the same position, but on the whole every goalkeeper I've encountered in my career gets on fine - don't get me wrong they all want to play, but we all know that goalkeeping can be a very lonely position at times so we are all sympathetic to each other.

"We'll keep each other going in training and although this has been my first week the banter is great - and I'd imagine that will get even better as I get to know the guys."

There was one move out of Easter Road last night - but only temporary!  Highly rated Under-19 defender Callum Booth joined Ewan Moyes on loan to Arbroath until the end of the season, a move designed to give both experience at a higher level.