Griffiths chips in to help Klimala and Co conquer

LEIGH GRIFFITHS made his comeback as a Celtic second string saw off Hibernian at Celtic Park – and he would have made a goalscoring return too, had it not been for poaching team-mate Patryk Klimala.

The young Pole showed his strike partner no charity whatsoever as Griffiths produced a lovely bit of skill and a cheeky dink over Hibernian keeper Kevin Dabrowski late in the second half, only for Klimala to run in and smash home his goalbound effort from half a yard. The famed union between goalkeepers clearly doesn’t exist at the other end of the pitch.

Griffiths showed there were no hard feelings though, as after congratulating his teammate on that goal, proceeded to whip a corner to the back post for Klimala to head home his second and Celtic’s third of the game.

Regardless of the names on the scoresheet though, Griffiths had done enough in his half-hour cameo to show that perhaps he has a future at Celtic after all. He looked to have been putting in the hard yards since being left behind in Glasgow when Neil Lennon took his squad to Loughborough and France on pre-season duty, and while he still may have some work to do to completely edge his way back into his boss’s favours, he has at least made a decent first step.

Hibs had taken an early lead in the game, with Josh Doig finishing brilliantly on the volley before Karamoko Dembele levelled for Celtic just before the break, but all eyes after the interval were on Griffiths as he got a chance to show what he had been doing as he trained in isolation.

Unsurprisingly given it was Celtic’s second friendly match in as many days, Neil Lennon had named a raft of youngsters led by captain Olivier Ntcham to start the match.

It was a low-key opening, with the players almost as slow off the mark as the canned fan noise from the Tannoy system, but Celtic warmed to the task eventually as a cross from Kerr McInroy was headed on target by Ewan Henderson, bringing the first save from Dabrowski.

Henderson should have scored moments later after breaking the visiting offside trap, but he hit the sidenetting when one on one with the keeper.

It was Hibs who hit the front though with a brilliantly worked goal soon after, Daryl Hogan hitting the byline before clipping the ball to the back post for the arriving Doig to volley home past Connor Hazard.

Ismaila Soro was impressing for Celtic in the middle of the park, and he gave Ntcham a shooting opportunity from a free-kick when his storming run through the centre of the park was halted illegally, but the skipper fired over.

Karamoko was starting to influence the game, and his curling effort was deflected just wide as Celtic looked to level before the break, but he managed to do just that when a slack pass out of