After early troubles, loan wolf has finally found his appetite

Friday 18 May 2012

Leigh Griffiths has sought forgiveness on more than one occasion in recent months.

Griffiths has clashed with his own fans more than once but became a hero when he scored the winner against Aberdeen. Picture: SNS

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Having missed the birth of his two children during his ill-starred spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers, it is presumably a request he is well versed in.

It is not altogether unsurprising, then, that he claims winning tomorrow's Scottish Cup final would be the proudest moment of his life as he hopes to complete a journey of redemption against Hearts at Hampden Park tomorrow afternoon.

The Scotland under-21 striker has endured a difficult season at Easter Road. Having joined his boyhood favourites initially on loan from Wolves in August, he was subsequently told before Christmas that he could leave the Midlands club by then manager Mick McCarthy. Having netted just three times at that point, Griffiths response to his rejection by his parent club was to score a further eight goals, including the late winner in last month's semi-final triumph over Aberdeen. For a time, though, it appeared he was unable to step on to the pitch without courting controversy. Griffiths served three bans for abusive gestures towards supporters, prompting a warning from his manager, Pat Fenlon. He later issued a sombre apology on the club's own online television channel, during which he described his actions as "sheer stupidity".He will seek to banish the ignominy of those incidents by helping Hibernian to their first Scottish Cup in 110 years and will hope to prove that while his bark has been silenced, his appetite for goals remains keen."I missed the birth of my two kids when I was down at Wolves so this win would be the proudest moment of my life," said Griffiths. "If I can score the winner, or play any part in the goal that wins the game, it would be incredible. We'll try to do what we did against Aberdeen and sneak an early goal, but we know anything can happen in football – just look at the way Manchester City won the title on Sunday. We will do our best and, hopefully, it is enough on the day."Griffiths and his team-mates spent part of this week out of the media glare during a short break to Dublin and the striker says the move by Fenlon was a welcome one. "It was good to get away. We knew what Edinburgh was going to be like with the final coming up. It was good to get away, and it was nice and sunny with great pitches to train on. To go and train on that and get some sessions with no press or anyone on our backs was good. I don't play golf so the rest of the time was spent in my room, putting my feet up and resting for Saturday."While Griffiths will be sniffing for goals at one end of the pitch, Mark Brown, the man charged with keeping them out at the other is relishing the opportunity to play in a showpiece final. Brown has been on the periphery when previous clubs Rangers and Celtic reached finals and only made it into the reckoning for tomorrow's final because of the thigh injury Graham Stack, Hibernian's first-choice goalkeeper, sustained in the semi-final win over Aberdeen.Brown was at Rangers when three outfield players were named on the bench for their 4-0 Scottish Cup triumph over Aberdeen in 2000 and was cup-tied when Celtic lifted the trophy courtesy of their 1-0 win over Dunfermline Athletic seven years later. The Scotland B internationalist got closer to the action when Celtic defeated Rangers 2-0 to lift the League Cup in 2009. But he is now desperate to make the most of the golden chance afforded by Stack's misfortune.He said: "These occasions don't come around that often in your career, especially for players outwith the Old Firm, so you have to savour them. We have to prepare right for the game and come Saturday try and get the job done. It will be great to be involved."

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After early troubles, loan wolf has finally found his appetite

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