There are some adjustments to be made, and Terry Butcher joked about the new faces in the press room at St Mirren Park, having been used to working with different reporters in Inverness.

There were quips, too, about needing to find new fish and chip shops for some of the longer trips back from away games. Butcher was in his element : warm, garrulous, bold, and it was clear his personality had already been an influence on his players.

Hibernian will not be transformed overnight, and strengthening the team will clearly take patience, but asserting a new mood, of ambition and resilience, will come naturally to Butcher. He is a dominant presence, and the Easter Road players reacted swiftly to the approach of the new manager and his assistant, Maurice Malpas, on the training ground.

The visitors still lacked a cutting edge, but then St Mirren were also on a solid run, having lost only one of their previous six fixtures. There was merit in the display of both teams, even if neither was capable of playing with any flair or accomplishment. Butcher is at the beginning of a work in progress, though, and the initial signs are promising.

"The sheer desire is the first thing we noticed from him and from Maurice to improve us as a group," said Ben Williams, the goalkeeper. "They have a lot of belief in us. Confidence was lacking, but we trust each other. Everyone is in it together. The manager is the first to admit it's a good group of players and probably better than he assumed it would be. So it's about improving as much as we can. I could see players putting in more."

Williams could joke that some of his younger team-mates might have to "search on Wikipedia" to know about Butcher's playing career, but the manager carries the presence of a man who has played and won at the highest levels of the game. Hibs need that authority, and the players were certainly rugged and disciplined on Saturday. More accomplishment will come with greater confidence, and for now the new manager's role is to revive a sense of purpose and self-assurance at Easter Road.

"We stripped it down to bare bones, had a couple of meetings," said Williams. "It was back to basics in many ways. I know we went on a run or six or seven games unbeaten, [but] there were a couple of defeats after that where we didn't play to any tempo. It's all about the exact opposite of that now. It's probably the most crosses we have had and attempts on goal and it's the questions we were asking. We have been a little bit too nice and a little bit too soft."

The St Mirren players would attest to the fact Hibs were no push-overs, although Steven Thompson spurned the best opportunity of the game early on. Darren McGregor also had a header cleared off the goalline. The game was even, though, and Hibs felt they should have been awarded a penalty following McGregor's awkward attempt to clear from James Collins. Mostly, though, the two goalkeepers were only called upon to make routine saves. Marian Kello still attracted attention from the away fans, though, having spent part of his career playing for Hearts.

The Slovak was a reassuring figure at the back, and Danny Lennon will hope to persuade him to stay at St Mirren beyond the end of his short-term contract in January. "I'm really enjoying it," Kello said. "Do I expect to be here beyond January? That's a difficult question. We will talk about it and I will speak to my agent. I don't know, to be honest."