Hibernian 2 St Mirren 1: Captain James McPake hopes Hibernian can agree a permanent deal with Leigh Griffiths after the striker netted twice in the 2-1 win over St Mirren which sent Pat Fenlon's men, for one night, to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Saturday.
On his second loan spell at Easter Road from Wolves, Griffiths has now netted 11 SPL goals this season to equal his tally last term and lead to suggestions of a Scotland call-up on Tuesday, whether Craig Levein is manager or not.
Griffiths joined Wolves on a two-and-a-half year deal from Dundee in January 2011.
McPake said: “Wolves must have some top strikers if he’s not good enough to have a chance. Their loss is definitely going to somebody else’s gain, I just hope it’s ours.”
Manager Pat Fenlon said: “He (Griffiths) is somebody we want to keep at the club. He wants to stay, which is great. ”We’ve got to make sure we do our work and get that done.”
McPake’s glancing header on Paul Cairney’s cross helped to set up the first, as the ball fell at the back post for Griffiths to pick his spot and cancel out Kenny McLean’s opener. Griffiths fired home his second midway through the second half and St Mirren’s woes were compounded by the dismissal for two bookable offences of Jim Goodwin.
HIBERNIAN: Williams, Maybury, McPake, Hanlon, McGivern, Wotherspoon, Claros, Taiwo, Cairney, Griffiths, Doyle (Stevenson 78). Subs not used: Murdoch, Sproule, Handling, Stanton, Kuqi, Donaldson. Booked: Taiwo. Goals: Griffiths 37, 65. ST MIRREN: Samson, van Zanten, McAusland, Mair, Dummett, Reilly (Teale 63), Imrie (Carey 82), Goodwin, McLean, Thompson, Parkin (Guy 61). Subs not used: Chris Smith,Robertson,Barron,McGinn. Sent Off: Goodwin (67). Booked: Goodwin, Imrie, Mair. Goals: McLean 32. Referee: Alan Muir (Scotland).
