CHRISTMAS has come early for Jason Cummings.

The Hibernian striker, never shy of his own ability, set himself a yuletide target of reaching double-figures – a first way-point on his journey to racking up more than 20 goals by the end of the season.

Frankly, those aspirations now appears somewhat modest.

With two months to spare until December 25, Cummings claimed his 10th goal of the campaign against Raith Rovers on Saturday, latching onto a Mark Oxley punt before lofting a delightful chip over Raith Rovers goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert.

It was the clinical finish of a young man who has now scored in each of his last four outings and boasts 32 goals for Hibs at the tender age of 20.

And, to continue the festive imagery, Cummings is like a kid at Christmas as he considers the prospect of taking that form into next Sunday's mouth-watering fixture against Rangers.

"That's 10 for the campaign so far. My target was to get 10 goals before Christmas and 20-plus for the season, so I'm well ahead of schedule," said Cummings. "I might need to update it a wee bit!

"Every game, I'm looking to add to my goals and it's going well. But as long as the team is winning, that's all that matters.

"It's good to have that momentum coming into a massive game for the club against Rangers. Winning at places like Falkirk and Raith sets us up nicely for that.

"We don't have any fear – we're confident and will go for the win against Rangers. We can definitely pile the pressure on them and we'll be going out attacking to try and close the gap and catch them in the end.

"I've been looking forward to it for a long time. It's the biggest game of the season so far for us. It will be a great occasion."

Cummings' neat finish ultimately proved decisive in a hard-fought 2-1 win in Kirkcaldy, but John McGinn's opening goal was certainly the more eye-catching.

He broke the deadlock in sensational fashion after four minutes, unleashing a ferocious drive from 30 yards beyond the stranded Cuthbert, kissing the inside of the post on its way into the net.

Hibs head coach Alan Stubbs later said McGinn possesses "a thud" of a left foot. No kidding.

"It was an unbelievable strike. He's been watching me training," smiled Cummings.

Joking aside, there does seem to be a potentially fruitful relationship developing between McGinn and Cummings; forged on international duty and now benefiting Hibs.

He continued: "McGinn has been different class for us. I played with him for the Scotland under -21s and I think we've built a good understanding and we have a good relationship on the park.

"He seems to see my runs quite a lot and I like playing with John.

"You saw last season how good Scott Allan was and what a top quality player he is. I thought we would miss him, but the gaffer has done an amazing job in bringing in some top class midfielders like John."

Raith striker Jon Daly - fit, well and proving a constant menace to Liam Fontaine and Paul Hanlon - halved arrears when he ghosted in at the back post to head home a clipped Jason Thomson cross after 64 minutes.

Concerted pressure followed, and only heroic goal-line defending from Fontaine stopped Scott Robertson from restoring parity, with the big centre-half heading clear a sharp shot by the former Hibee.

As seems almost traditional, there was also time for some refereeing controversy when a Daly overhead kick struck the hand of Hanlon inside the box.

As Raith lost their 100 per cent home record, Daly said: "The ball has dropped and I helped it towards goal. I got a decent contact on it and someone said you could hear the hand slap from the stand!"