JASON CUMMINGS enthusiastically talked up Hibernian’s title prospects after his goal helped inflict a first league defeat of the season on Rangers to reduce the gap at the top of the SPFL Championship table to five points. Cummings and Paul Hanlon scored either side of a deflected Lee Wallace strike to settle a compelling contest at Easter Road in which Rangers also struck the post and crossbar and had a penalty claim turned away.

The victory extends Hibs’ recent undefeated run to 11 matches and Cummings believes they have a squad capable of eventually overhauling Rangers to win the championship.

"The belief is there and we can definitely win the title,” said the gregarious Scotland under-21 cap. “We have got a great set of lads, a great manager and a coaching staff, and we are capable of winning the league. Our confidence is through the roof now and I can’t see us getting beaten any time soon. With them getting beaten their heads are going to be down so it’s going to be interesting. The whole season they didn’t know what it was like as a team to lose, so it’ll be good to see how they react to that. Now they know we are pushing them every week.

“The gap is only five points, it’s nothing. You can claw that back in a couple of weeks and hopefully that rattles them a wee bit and we keep on winning.”

His manager Alan Stubbs was rather more circumspect in his assessment. "I might not be showing it but I'm delighted inside,” he said. "I'm delighted for the players. They deserve all the credit for the result today. They stood up to a man, everyone of them.

"I think we've got a good blend. Defensively we are stronger. We didn't start the season great but are a better team than last year. We had a great individual last year with Scott Allan but now we are a better team. Scott is still a good player and I speak to him all the time. But he is gone and we're a better team as a result of that. Rangers have had all the plaudits and rightly so. They have had a fantastic start but we're only five points behind them so we must have done something right."

Stubbs was effusive in his praise of midfielder John McGinn who drove Hibs to victory. “If I had to choose one word it would be “outstanding”,” he added. “For me he was by head and shoulders the best player on the pitch. He was like a throwback to an old midfield player. His range of passing was outstanding, his workrate for the team was unbelievable, his desire to win tackles and not be beaten was ridiculous at times. He’s got a fantastic opportunity to be a very, very good player.”

His opposite number Mark Warburton felt his team had performed well and revealed his players were “angry” at failing to take anything from the game.

“I think we’ll play a lot worse than that this season and come away with three points,” he said. “I have just seen the stats and we had 65 percent possession. I thought we were very good. The frustration and anger downstairs is we didn’t get something from a good performance. Coming to a venue of this nature, tough opponents and to deliver a poor performance then you quite rightly don’t deserve anything. But I thought on our performance we certainly deserved something.

“We’re only five points clear, that’s the message to the players. Not in an arrogant way, if you’d said at the start of the season we’d played 12 and lost one, you’ve got 33 points and you’re five clear, I think anyone would take it.”