LIAM Craig insists Hibs can still clinch the Championship title – if they win eight on the spin to put pressure on runaway leaders Hearts.
The Hibees came from behind against Raith on Saturday to record successive league victories for the first time in 2014.
Next up is a home clash with Rangers before Alan Stubbs takes his side to Tynecastle for a New Year clash with their city rivals.
Those two matches could effectively determine whether Hibs are in the hunt for title success or will have to settle for the play-offs.
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If the Jambos win away at Cowdenbeath tomorrow then the Easter Road men will be 19 points behind the leaders going into the crunch double-header.
But skipper Craig has not given up hope of climbing to the summit.
The midfielder said: “We have always been looking up the table rather than over our shoulder.
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“We’re seven points behind Rangers and know how big next week’s game is.
“If we can win that one it closes the gap again.
“That’s what we need to keep doing, keep looking in front, looking at both Rangers and Hearts.
“There’s a lot of games left but we need to go on a run of six, seven, eight wins in a row if we’re going to have any chance of winning the league.
“It’s probably going to take that but we’re capable of going on a run like that. That is now one defeat in 11 league games and we have been dominant a lot.
“We just need to keep taking it game by game and keep winning. That’s two on the bounce now. We’ll try to make it three next week.
“It would be massive if we were to beat Rangers – we know how important it is.”
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Hibs made life difficult for themselves in Kirkcaldy after missing a series of chances during a one-sided first half.
Dominique Malonga was the main culprit, being left frustrated in his duel with keeper David McGurn, while Craig also wasted a good opportunity.
Barrie McKay scored for Raith against the run of play five minutes before the break, drilling an effort past Mark Oxley at his near post.
But the Hibees levelled seconds before half-time when Jason Cummings turned in a rebound after Malonga’s shot had been cleared off the line by Rory McKeown.
Liam Fontaine headed Hibs in front 12 minutes from time before Malonga finally found the net three minutes later with a cool finish.
Hibs are finally getting up a head of steam and Craig finds it hard to get his head around the fact they had failed to register back-to-back league wins prior to the weekend.
He added: “It does come as a surprise. We have spoken about how we need to make our home form better.
“That’s why it was nice to get the win and the clean sheet last week.
“Coming to Raith and going behind, a lot of people would be saying, ‘Same old Hibs again’ but we’re getting past that.
“We’re looking forward to getting back to Easter Road next week. And it doesn’t come much bigger than Rangers and Hearts in the next two.”
Boss Stubbs also believes his side can get back in the title mix if they can string a run of wins together.
He said: “If we concentrate on ourselves we will be where we want to be at the end of the season.
“With some of our play in the first half you would like to see us take the chances.
“It was just a matter of time before we took one.
“It would have been easy to get frustrated and think it wasn’t going to be our day but I have a really good bunch of lads and their belief is at a high.”
Raith have only won once in their last 11 league matches but scorer McKay insists no one is panicking.
The on-loan Rangers playmaker said: “We’ve started to play better in the last few weeks so that’s a plus but it does not really matter how you’re playing if you’re not getting the wins.
“We need to do that and start climbing the table.”
Boss Grant Murray added: “Until the third goal, our lads gave everything and caused Hibs a lot of problems.”
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