CELTIC LEGEND DAVIE HAY has said that the confidence earned from scoring penalty against Serbia will kickstart Leigh Griffiths’ season. The 30-year-old has had a staggered start to the season after being left at home for much of the pre-season preparations due to fitness concerns. However, he scored in Celtic’s win versus St Johnstone, in a draw against Aberdeen and in the loss to Prague.
Hay, speaking to the Scottish Sun, reckons that Leigh Griffiths will benefit from the win after showing great composure to take Scotland’s first penalty, despite not touching the ball in open play.
“Griffiths showed some amount of bottle on Thursday to step up and take that first penalty.
“The first one and the last one are so important and for a guy who has struggled in recent seasons, I thought it showed a lot of courage.
“If he wants to be in there, he needs to be doing it for Celtic week in, week out. It is to Celtic’s benefit as much as his own that he shows the talent he is capable of now on a consistent basis.”
Celtic are currently nine points behind Rangers but have two games in hand. The period bookmarked by international breaks was poor for Neil Lennon’s side but they did book a place in the rescheduled Scottish Cup Final.
Griffiths is behind Odsonne Edouard and Albian Ajeti in the striking hierarchy; although Neil Lennon knows that if he can get Griffiths back to his free-scoring best, Celtic will benefit.
