LEIGH GRIFFITHS has been named the SFWA Player of the Year for a second time – and has already targeted bagging a record third.

The Celtic striker was voted the country’s top man by the Scottish Football Writers Association, and will be presented with his award at this Sunday’s glamour dinner at The City Hotel in Glasgow.

Having previously won the gong in 2013 while at Hibs – becoming the first man to win both the Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year – the 25-year-old now joins an elite band of stars to have lifted the trophy twice.

In what is the longest-established award in Scottish football, only John Greig, Sandy Jardine, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsson, Barry Ferguson and Craig Gordon have been double winners since its inception in 1965.

Despite that illustrious list, nobody has ever claimed a hat-trick, but Griffiths is willing to give it a go.

“I haven’t started my speech for the dinner yet, but I’m sure come Sunday night I will be firing on all cylinders,” he joked.

“It’s always nice to win individual awards. This will be the second time I have won it and hopefully it is not the last.

“You never know what the future hold. Hopefully I can replicate what I’ve done this season and maybe be back in the running for the award next season.”

It is a great achievement for a player who at the start of the previous campaign appeared frozen out of Ronny Deila’s Parkhead plans and destined for a loan spell at Hibs.

Eighteen months later, and he is only one strike away from making it 40 goals this season.

“The last time I won this I was fighting a relegation battle with Hibs. This time it has been about concentrating on winning a league medal with Celtic,” added Griffiths.

“As I say, it is nice to get these individual awards but at the end the league medal counts the most.”