Rodgers draws line under Griffiths’ Firhill strop

Leigh Griffiths has “apologised sincerely” for his substitution strop at Firhill on Thursday night, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers revealed.

The Hoops striker was far from happy with his gaffer when replaced by Scott Sinclair just after the hour mark in the 5-0 Ladbrokes Premiership win over Partick Thistle.

The Scotland attacker has played second fiddle to Moussa Dembele for most of the season and returned to the side recently due to the Frenchman’s hamstring injury.

Rodgers empathised with Griffiths’ frustration and stressed that he has a massive part to play at the Parkhead club while reminding him that he will not tolerate any dressing room upset.

The Northern Irishman and his skipper Scott Brown were yesterday presented with their respective Ladbrokes Premiership manager and player of the year awards at the club’s Lennoxtown training complex.

Afterwards, Rodgers said: “He apologised sincerely for his reaction. It wasn’t the right reaction.

“It’s not one that I expect and, more importantly, the rest of his team-mates expect.

“He is a really good fella, a good boy and a massive part of what I am doing here. So please don’t think he is on his way out or this sort of stuff.

The champions will be presented with the League trophy against Hearts on Sunday before they start preparing for the William Hill Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen.

Celtic are unbeaten in 45 domestic games since the start of the season, and against Thistle their 33rd league win moved them on to 103 points – equalling the records set by Martin O’Neill’s title-winning side of 2001-02.