Griffiths’ contribution to Scots’ revival hailed by Thompson

Steven Thompson reckons Leigh Griffiths will be relieved to have scored against someone other than England.

The Celtic striker broke his international duck with a stunning free-kick double in June’s 2-2 draw with the Auld Enemy at Hampden.

But Monday night’s close-range strike was just his third goal in 14 appearances for his country.

And, although he knows Griffiths will be delighted to have scored, Thompson insists the 27-year-old has contributed plenty to Scotland’s recent success.

He said: “He’s had a great contribution. We know all about the England game, but in the last two games he’s been excellent.

“It seems strange for the centreforward to be taking the corners but he does deliver a fantastic corner, and we’ve scored from two of those.

“And he’ll be delighted to get on the score-sheet again, so that he’s not just known for scoring against England – he’s actually scored against somebody else now.”

Thompson, who scored three goals in 16 appearances for the national team, believes Scotland should have won by a bigger margin than the 2-0 victory over Malta.

After recording 25 shots at goal, he admits they will not get away with passing up as many chances against Slovakia next month.

He added: “The positive is we managed to create these opportunities in the first place, but when you’re playing against top teams and better teams…

“If you look at the England game, the Griffiths goals were from freekicks. There was one other shot on goal.

“We’re not going to have that number of shots come the Slovakia game, and if you’re presented with opportunities against better teams you’ve got to make sure you’re more clinical.”

Leigh Griffiths: scored his third goal in 14 appearances for Scotland. Picture: