GRIFFITHS OK TOFACEGERS
“Leigh is fit, available and as a coaching staff we decide to go with Leigh, I would have no concerns whatsoever about his state of mind.
“His ankle is fine. Leigh is fit and available and he has trained. He has played against them numerous times for Hibs and for Celtic, home and away and at Hampden.
“I have no issues playing any of my players against any team, whether it be Paul McMullan against Dundee United, Leigh or Cillian Sheridan against Rangers.”
McPake knows Griffiths will expect to run the wrath of the Rangers fans. He also knew that would be the case for him against most clubs.
The Dundee boss said: “Did we expect that when we took Leigh to the club that other clubs would target him? Yes.
“Did we think other teams would target Charlie [Adam]? Absolutely.
“I have played in games where certain players have been targeted in the past, we know it happens.
“When we played Hearts last year there wasn’t any crowd thankfully, so myself or Jason Cummings never got targeted.
“It is the nature of football. Can you stop all the fans chanting? No.
“Good players get targeted and dangerous players get targeted.
“Those at different clubs get targeted for different reasons and those who’ve maybe done something get targeted, it’s the nature of the game with teams with a big away support.
“We will also have a big home support who will back him, if he plays.”
The biggest headache for McPake is not the Griffiths issue but who will start to put the ball into the net for his side.
They have come up and done well in the top flight but a lack of a cutting edge has left them still waiting to get the first Premiership win on the board.
McPake said: “It will come because we are creating more chances in this league.
“It might be different because we are playing the champions.
“We might not get the same clear cut four chances and so we will need to be even more clinical.
“We just need to put the ball in the net.”
McPake wants his team to go out and show they can be a match for champions Rangers because these are the occasions they worked so hard for to get promoted from the Championship.
He added:“We wanted to get into the Premiership for days like this.
“With the big away crowds and a good home crowd and a very good atmosphere.
“It should be a good game of football – and that is what we wanted to get back to the Premiership for.”