LEIGH GRIFFITHS shot to the top of the Celtic goalscorer charts with his hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Kilmarnock.

But the man who has now bagged 15 goals this season claims he would be top of the Scottish charts - currently headed by Adam Rooney on 26 - if he had played as many games as the Aberdeen hitman.

Griffiths was shooting from the lip as he reflected on his strike rate.

Hoops boss Ronny Deila has declared in these pages that he wants one of his players to be top scorer in the country.

But the Norwegian also insists on rotating his strikers - Anthony Stokes led the line against St Mirren, John Guidetti started against Killie, with Griffiths making a 31-minute substitute appearance to get his goals.

With four goals in his last two outings, Griffiths is making a strong case for inclusion in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness, when he hopes he can add to his tally and continue to close the gap on Rooney.

He said: "I have no doubt that, if I had played the same amount of games as Adam Rooney, I would be up there as top goalscorer.

"Everybody knows what I can do. I am a goalscorer.

"But I have had to bide my time, and, thankfully, I am seeing the rewards now."

Griffiths scoring streak has helped push Celtic eight points clear in the title race, with the same number of games played as Aberdeen.

They have got here by sharing the goals around, with Guidetti on 14 and support strikers, including Kris Commons - who got the equaliser against Killie - and Stefan Johansen also making significant contributions.

Griffiths acknowledges this has made it harder for teams to keep them out as there is not just one striker to close down, as is the case with many other teams.

He said: "We have got players all over the park who can score goals for us.

"So everyone has to be wary of us.

"But I'm just glad that last night I was able to come on and do my job, which is put the ball in the net."

Griffiths was sent on immediately after Commons had made it 1-1.

The Hoops had struggled to make any real impact before that equaliser, and it looked like more points were in danger of being dropped.

Griffiths knows that would have given fresh hope to Aberdeen, who were watching closely to see if the draw at Inverness on Saturday was the start of a wobble by the champions.

"Inverness is a tough place to go," said Griffiths. "Everybody knows that.

"It was just a minor blip for us. But we are back on track now, as last night showed.

"And, hopefully, come Sunday when we play Inverness in the cup semi final, we will be raring to go again."