Leigh Griffiths takes what’s on offer from the spot

Published on 11/03/2012 00:00

LEIGH GRIFFITHS admitted that Hibernian might have picked up a penalty for very little to help them on their way yesterday.

The on-loan Wolves striker converted to make it 2-0 after Andrew Greggan had been adjudged to have pulled down Isaiah Osbourne, the height differential in favour of the Hibs player being about seven inches.

“I asked the ref [Steven McLean] what the penalty was for and he said ‘No.6 had wrestled your man to the ground’ and I thought he must have done well to wrestle big Ozzy to the ground as he’s not the smallest of guys to come down,” Griffiths said. “I didn’t see it as I was round the back post but when I asked the ref what it was for he said it was a tug on the shirt and he’s wrestled him to the ground and he explained it was the same as the one Falkirk got penalised for at Hampden against Celtic [in the League Cup semi-final].

“If the ref’s seen it he’s got to give it and thankfully I’ve tucked it away.”

Predictably, Ayr manager Brian Reid had an entirely different take on the award. “I felt a lot of the big decisions went against us and that was certainly one of them,” he said. “If penalties are going for that, there are going to be a lot of them in every game.”

His Easter Road counterpart Pat Fenlon was quietly satisfied with the way his side approached the tie “in the right manner”, and the fact the club can look forward to a semi-final. In reference to his team’s 11th placing in the Scottish Premier League, though, he cautioned: “It is a semi-final and not anything else. We have a lot more important matches coming up because the priority is staying up.”