‘Rangers earned celebrations... We focus on ourselves’

While keen to stress that Griffiths is still a work in progress in terms of his return to full fitness, Brown was nevertheless appreciative of the recent form of his colleague.

“He has been fantastic since January. He still has to work hard and he still has a bit to go which he knows himself,” he said. “But for everyone it is great to see a natural finisher on the park. We know how good he is and we want to see him on the park for Celtic and for Scotland.

“His link-up play with Odsonne has been fantastic. One goes long, one comes short and then we are seeing their wee 1-2s around the corner to each other. They are both unselfish when it comes to goals.

“They will have a wee competition I’m sure because all strikers want to score but if it is an easier pass for Odsonne to play Griff or vice-versa then they do that.”

If Steve Clarke has watched with interest, it may yet be to no avail. It seems increasingly likely that there will be a move to postpone this summer’s European Championships with the play-off game against Israel in a fortnight looking as though it might have to be put on the backburner.

In the long term, though, the return of Griffiths to the national team is something that Brown believes is inevitable given the striker’s form. Playing up alongside Steven Naismith may well given Scotland a bit of bite, whenever their next outing may be.

“Naismith links up well with everyone and works extremely hard,” said Brown. “He has been fantastic for Scotland over the years so it was good to see the two of them linking up.

“It has been a hard year-and-a-half for Leigh so it has been good to see the wee guy back on the park and playing with a smile again.”