Leigh Griffiths is hoping his league goals will put him in contention for a starting place in the Scotland line up selected by manager Gordon Strachan for the games against Poland and Gibraltar. The on-form striker scored his 12 of the season with the winner against Hamilton Accies on Sunday and has now joined up with his international team-mates ahead of Thursday’s crucial European Championships qualifier against Poland at Hampden. Griffiths said he knew he had to find the back of the net at the weekend after his fellow Scotland strikers did likewise south of the border the day before but he hopes his strike will be enough to give the national team manager a selection headache.
Speaking after Sunday’s game, Griffiths said: "Coming here is always tough. Hamilton like to get the ball down and play and they deservedly went 1-0 up because for the first 10-15 minutes we weren’t at the races. When we got the ball down and played, we caused them problems. I just saw the ball coming in and thought I’d try my luck and I managed to put it back across the goalie. I had to score because another three strikers for Scotland scored the day before, so I had to do my bit. They scored near enough right after each other. Jordan Rhodes got a double then Steven Fletcher and Chris Martin scored afterwards. So I thought, ‘I need to do something special!’ I’m just happy to get the goal, the win and we’re going into the international break on a high. I can only concentrate on what I’m doing for Celtic. If I keep playing well and scoring goals, Gordon Strachan is going to have a tough job to decide who’s going to play but if I’m not in the starting XI I’ll sit on the bench and wait my turn."