91Èȱ¬

Leigh Griffiths is a great Celtic striker in the making, according to former Bhoys goalkeeper Pat Bonner.

Griffiths scored a brilliant opener in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Hearts.

"He had a lot to do in that particular first goal, but his mind was working and you could see what he was thinking," Bonner told 91Èȱ¬ Scotland.

"Even when he went through, he had the composure to knock it past the goalkeeper. That's the making of great strikers and great Celtic strikers."

Griffiths' goal in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle took his tally to 12 in 22 games this season.

The 25-year-old has held off competition from Nadir Ciftci, the £1.5m summer signing from Dundee United, to become the Scottish champions' first-choice striker.

And the Scotland international showed his value by also setting up Celtic's second goal, scored by Tom Rogic, in Edinburgh.

Bonner spent 20 years at Celtic Park, with Charlie Nicholas, Brian McClair, Andy Walker, Mark McGhee and Pierre van Hooijdonk among the top scorers during his time at the Glasgow club.

"I've seen good strikers at Celtic and played with them and they didn't play brilliant in every single game," Bonner said when explaining his admiration for Griffiths.

"But they were always a threat. They were always there.

"And sometimes, when they weren't playing well, that was when they were at their most threatening because they were waiting for that half chance."

Griffiths, who has yet to score in his six Scotland appearances, began his career with Livingston and, after a spell with Dundee, won a transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He was immediately sent back to Scotland for the first of two loans spells with hometown club Hibernian in the Scottish top flight.

Griffiths broke into the Wolves first-team at the beginning of the 2013-14 season and had scored 13 times for the English League One club before they accepted an offer from Celtic during the January transfer window and the striker signed a four-year contract.

He found himself behind Anthony Stokes and on-loan Manchester City striker John Guidetti for much of last season after the arrival of Ronny Deila as manager but has become Celtic's leading marksman for this campaign.

Griffiths ran the width of the park to celebrate his goal in front of the Hearts fans.

The striker said: "The booking was a bit harsh, but if you give me a goal like that and a yellow card then I'll take it all day long.

"I get abuse everywhere I go. Here you always get stick as an ex-Hibee, but the only way to shut them up is to score."