Hamilton hat-trick makes Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths untouchable
Published:
Leigh Griffiths is practically untouchable in the race to be crowned Ladbrokes Premiership top scorer this season after bagging a hat-trick in Celtic’s 8-1 demolition job over Hamilton.
That is according to the league sponsors who have cut the former Livingston, Dundee, Wolverhampton and Hibs hitman to 1/12 to top the scoring charts in 2015-16.
The Bhoys were in no mood to take things easy on the Accies, with Mikael Lustig putting the hosts 1-0 up after just four minutes. Nir Bitton doubled the lead after nine minutes and 60 seconds later the Hoops were out of sight courtesy of a Tom Rogic strike.
And then the Griffiths show began with the 25-year-old hitting a 32-minute hat-trick. James Forrest and Callum McGregor also got their names on the score sheet but it was Griffiths’ night and nearest challenger Adam Rooney now has his work cut out to catch the Parkhead ace.
Griffiths now has 20 Ladbrokes Premiership strikes to his name, while Aberdeen’s Rooney is now five goals further back on 15 and can be backed at 6/1 to come out on top.
Ross County’s Liam Boyce (13), Dundee’s Kane Hemmings (12) and Motherwell’s Louis Moult (10) are the only other players to have reached double figures and can be backed at 20/1, 28/1 and 40/1 respectively but the smart money is now on Griffiths running away with it.
The hat-trick means Griffiths now has 54 Celtic goals to his name from just 87 appearances and at the tender age of 25 the forward has plenty of time on his side to carve his name into Bhoys folklore.
Whether or not he can catch Jimmy McGrory’s record of 472 goals for the club seems unlikely but the likes of Bobby Lennox (273), Henrik Larsson (242) and Stevie Chalmers (231) will be players Griffiths will hope to have emulated by the time he hangs up his boots.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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