Former Celtic player urges Strachan to start Leigh Griffiths

Tom Boyd has urged Scotland manager Gordon Strachan to start Leigh Griffiths on Thursday night against Poland.

The former Celtic and Scotland captain believes he must start because of his recent form and patience for a chance to play.

For Scotland, the European Championships are in the horizon, but in their way are Poland and Gibraltar.

They also need Ireland to slip up against Germany and/or Poland to progress to the playoffs for Euro 2016.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Boyd says that to give them the best chance of going through, Celtic’s striker must lead the line at Hampden Park on Thursday night.

We want to make sure we get a victory here and I would start Leigh, but managers tend to stick by the players who have done it and it might be sometimes to their cost.

He’s now the first choice striker at Celtic and rightly so, because of his attitude and the way he’s performed on the field.

Leigh is the form player of the strikers at this moment in time. He’s been patient at Celtic and on the international scene and, when he gets a chance, he takes his opportunity.

Scotland will host the Poles on Thursday before making the trip to Faro to face Gibraltar on Sunday in the penultimate match for them in Group D.

Ireland will face Germany at the Aviva stadium in Dublin on Thursday night before making the trip to Warsaw to face Poland.

Five Celtic players are in the Scotland squad and will hope to drive them on to a victory on Thursday to put pressure on Ireland.