ST MIRREN 0 HIBS 2 Cummings (22, 32)
JASON CUMMINGS turned in another priceless performance for Hibs as his deadly double secured victory for the title favourites.
However, the concern for Neil Lennon must be whether his club will be able to resist any more bigmoney bids for his star striker. The Hibees have already rejected a bid in the region of £1.3 million from Peterborough.
But with several scouts from England in the stands for this game to watch Cummings, the Edinburgh side will likely have their resolve tested between now and the end of the month with some tasty offers.
Lennon is confident the player will not be sold.
He said: “Jason played well today but he should have scored four.
“Look, every player has his price and I know that from my days at Celtic.
“But we do not need to sell and I’m pretty secure we won’t sell.
“We recently knocked back a heavy bid and there may well be other suitors but we haven’t had any other bids.”
Cummings added: “I’ve said I want to stay to help the club back to the Premiership and that has not changed.”
The huge travelling support arrived in anticipation of seeing their side win their third league game on the trot.
Hibs started well and it was no surprise to see them score in the 22nd minute.
David Gray embarked on a terrific overlap and delivered a dream cross.
As ever, Cummings was quickest to anticipate and he volleyed home from four yards.
It was a goal any poacher would have been proud of and his next successful strike would have given him as much satisfaction.
It came in the 32nd minute when a routine passback situation between young central defender Jack Baird and Gallacher ended in farce due to a lack of communication.
Baird hit his effort to his keeper a couple of yards wide of his left foot.
This allowed Cummings to stroke it home, from an acute angle, eight yards out.
No wonder Buddies boss Alex Rae shook his head in frustration.
He has had to assemble several new faces to enhance his squad but too many don’t have the necessary experience.
There is also a lack of physicality and power in the Paisley line-up.
Hibs survived a little bit of pressure after the second goal and went on to command proceedings in the second half.
Rae said: “We need to eradicate the mistakes otherwise it’s going to be a long season.”