Griff: England was dream come true... but it’s the that still keep me up

front of goal I would have a lot more goals than I do. You need luck sometimes as well going into games. It was disappointing.

“We haven’t done ourselves justice over a few games in this campaign. Look back at some of the games we have drawn or lost. There were chances to take the lead. But we are full of confidence after the last two games and looking for maximum points.”

THE former Livingston, Dundee, Wolves and Hibernian player has an innate goalscoring ability, but he has, at the behest of Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, put in countless hours of extra work in an attempt to to improve his all-round game of late and his efforts have borne fruit.

“I am always on the training pitch when I’m fit, trying to work on my weaknesses and trying to get better,” he said. “You’ve seen over the last 18 months in that period working with the Celtic manager that my game has come on leaps and bounds.”

“I think after my miss against Slovenia, when I hit the bar, I thought ‘is this ever going to happen’. Then I hit the post two minutes later and thought ‘well it’s definitely not meant to be’! But the England game obviously speaks for itself. You could see the joy on my face when I scored the first and the second one was even better. Hopefully I can add to my tally on Friday night.

“I thought I played well against Slovenia at home, albeit I missed one of the worst chances I have ever missed in my life. But apart from that I thought my link up play was good. I tried to bring others into play. At this level you need that.

“I spoke to my manager at my club and he said my game has gone to a different level since I came back in the summer. That can only be a positive thing going forward.”

GRIFFITHS has once again been in excellent form for Celtic this season and has scored five goals in nine appearances – includ- ing a late strike in the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Astana over in Kazakhstan last week.

The 13-times capped player is confident he will be able to add to his tally if, as is widely expected, he gets the nod to start by Strachan against Lithuania.

“It doesn’t matter who the opposition is, if a chance falls to me within 20, 25 yards I’m having a shot at goal and if it goes in it goes in,” he said.

“If not, I’ll wait for another chance. You might not get many chances so you try to make the first one count. But first and foremost it’s about the team you play for, whether it’s Celtic or Scotland, and it’s about getting the three points.”