The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Doubters continue to fire up Griffiths
STRIKER: Hampden hero content to let goals silence his critics
He’d rather it didn’t happen in the first place, but underestimating Leigh Griffiths will continue to fire up the Hampden hero for club and country.
The Celtic striker might not be everyone’s idea of a modern-day No 9 but nobody could deny his effectiveness, or all-round game, in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with England that had Griffiths stardust sprinkled all over it.
At the age of 26 the former Dundee forward now has an unbeaten treble with the Hoops to his name and a free-kick double with Scotland that will be passed down through the generations.
And Griffiths is determined to keep silencing the critics and doubters who believe he has risen beyond his capabilities.
“I don’t let people knock me down,” he said. “People say I am not good enough.
“When I first signed for Celtic, there were a lot of people who didn’t want me there, who said I couldn’t cut it.
“There were a lot of people – fans, opposition players. But I just keep answering people back.”
Davidson added: “It actually happened in the first game of the season against Aberdeen but I kept playing on.
“We looked at it around Christmas time and knew that we needed to do something. We tried to keep going.
“It got to the stage where we made a decision with two weeks of the season to go, so it gave me the best chance possible to get ready for the start of this season.
“A cyst had formed and it was drilled away. There was a wee tidy up to one of the cartilages, nothing major.
“It’s one of those things but now the ankle feels better and, as I say, it’s in the final stages to now crack on. It was worse training because I was missing days due to the ankle being too painful.
“During games it was sore but you can get through them with adrenaline. In training I was having to take painkilling granules and ibuprofen which I don’t like doing – but I had to.
“I’ve said to the physio that, the way it feels just now, then I could do everything. But we don’t want to go in too hard and have a setback.
“The plan is that all going well I’ll be as close to full training as possible next week.”
Davidson is keen to be back on the training field as soon as possible, as the Perth club’s return to Europa League action is looming large.
He said: “Sitting here now it’s less than three weeks until our first game in Europe.
“You are preparing for it straight away and that brings an excitement. It’s something we have savoured for five out of the last six years.
“The whole place gets a buzz and we will be looking for a good draw. Hopefully we can do well because we feel that in a couple of the years we have let ourselves down results wise. On the other hand, we’ve had some great results.
“But we feel we are more than capable of going on a good run. This is something to look forward to and we’ll all be prepared.”
Davidson is something of a European football veteran, having been at McDiarmid Park for every one of Saints’ recent campaigns.
He recalled: “I remember the first year playing against Eskisehirspor and it was all new to us – playing in the heat and over two legs.
“It’s completely different in Europe and teams play at a different tempo too. A lot of the squad have now experienced the travelling, training and the whole Thursday night set-up.
“It will be new for some of them but for me personally it definitely helps and you know what to expect.
“You want a draw where you can get as much information on the opposition as possible so it’s more like a normal game.
“There have been a couple of years where we’ve played teams who we’ve not known much about.
“You don’t want it to be like two years ago when it was a seven-hour flight to Armenia, which wasn’t ideal. And then 40 degree heat.
“But by doing that you can only learn. There is a lot of experience in the squad and I’m sure we’ll be ready when it comes around.”
Saints will play Sunderland in a McDiarmid Park friendly on Saturday July 15 (kick-off 3pm).