Young guns go for it as Watt and Griffiths face off

Saturday 1 September 2012

TONY WATT versus Leigh Griffiths?

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staff reporter

There will be more to tomorrow's match than a possible duel between two Scotland Under-21 strikers, but Tim Clancy, one of the Hibernian defenders who will be asked to tame Celtic's latest phenomenon, is in a good spot to compare them.

Clancy was at Motherwell when Watt came off the bench to score two goals on his Celtic debut. Now he is a team-mate of Griffiths, who continues to carry the burden for Hibs in front of goal. Watt, 18, got two more when he made his first start, in Inverness last week, and may be used again after coming off the bench in the Champions League play-off against Helsingborgs."Tony Watt is a very good young player and I actually played against him on his debut against Motherwell last season," said Clancy. "He came in and got two good goals when it was 0-0 and inspired the victory with a great performance. He has clearly continued that with his goals at Inverness. It just shows the depth in squad they have because they have got untold attacking options."He is an example of what you get from young players. They are confident and enthusiastic. As soon as they get a chance, they don't get fazed or nervous and you see that in their play. Tony wouldn't find himself in the Celtic first team if he wasn't a very good player. Maybe it is the unknown quantity about him, but he has proved he is capable at this level and has a bright future ahead of him."Griffiths, 22, has three goals in four league matches for Hibs. Last weekend he did not score but registered both assists in a 2-0 win over St Johnstone."Leigh has got all the ability in the world and I think people forget what age he is because he has been about for so long," added Clancy. "He is still very young and his ability speaks for itself. I am sure that no matter who we play against, they point him out as the danger man. He is definitely a player capable of winning games."Leigh is a confident lad and he will thrive on playing at Parkhead. He has got a lot of ability and is a great finisher, so we are hoping he will perform the way he has been in the last few games."Hibs followed up back- to-back wins in the league with defeat in the Scottish Communities League Cup by Queen of the South. Despite a handful of changes to their starting XI, the result has still shaken the players.Clancy added: "It is a wake up call for us because we need to play to the same level of intensity and standard to get results. We want to move on, but we can't forget about it because we want to learn from it. We let ourselves down and the fans especially so we are hoping we can put right a wrong against Celtic."

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Young guns go for it as Watt and Griffiths face off

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