Hibs: Learn lesson or lose place, Pat Fenlon tells Leigh Griffiths

HIBERNIAN manager Pat Fenlon has warned Leigh Griffiths that he will lose his place in the team unless he mends his ways.

The striker was given a one-match ban yesterday for gesturing at supporters – the second time in a month he has received a suspension for such a misdemeanour.

“He’s got to learn quickly or he’s not going to play,” Fenlon said after learning that Hibs had failed in their bid to contest the suspension, which rules Griffiths out of the club’s next Scottish Cup match. “If that is what is going to continue throughout the season, then he’s not going to play, because I can’t have players that are going to be suspended on a regular basis.”

Griffiths received his latest ban for an offensive gesture after scoring the equaliser against Cowdenbeath on Saturday in a fourth-round Cup tie. Hibs went on to win 3-2 and now play Dundee or Kilmarnock.

The game at Central Park was the striker’s first match since extending his loan period from Wolves to Hibs until the end of the season.

Fenlon explained that the 21-year-old would be disciplined for the offence, but said the club had appealed against the “offer” of a one-match ban because they did not think it merited a red card.

“We just thought it was a little bit harsh for a suspension, to be honest, for the crime,” Fenlon said. “If he [the ref] gives a red card for that, I don’t know the way the game’s going. It will be dealt with in-house. He’s got to know that I can’t afford to have players sitting in the stand while we’re playing. If he doesn’t learn from that, that’s where he’s going to end up sitting.

“He’s got to learn to deal with that better, and show elation and joy when you score goals. I don’t want to take that out of players, and I think sometimes the powers that be have taken that away from players in relation to celebrating goals.

“I definitely don’t advocate celebrating a goal in front of our own supporters like that but he’s got to learn from it. We’ll deal with it and, if he doesn’t learn, then he knows the consequence. He’s a young player and he needs to learn what’s acceptable and what’s not in the game.”

Inverness Caley Thistle full-back Kenny Gillet will miss his team’s replay against Dunfermline on Wednesday after losing his appeal against the straight red card he received in the first half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw. The winners of the replay will meet Celtic in the last 16.