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Waghorn Wisely Backs Away From Griffiths Rivalry Claims

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Martyn Waghorn is clearly not a stupid man.

Today, at the Sevco press conference, some in the media did their best to drum up a phony rivalry with Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths.

The two are competing for the prize to be Scotland’s top goal-scorer, but Waghorn is not daft enough to think any achievement of his in the second tier will be comparable to what our man achieves in the top flight.

This “rivalry” is a pure media invention, and any comparison between the two players is pretty specious.

Waghorn could have played it up, but to his credit he hasn’t.

He knows what goals in the Championship are worth; the SPL is where the real action is at, and scoring a dozen from the penalty spot, whilst impressive for its consistency, isn’t the same as banging in hat-tricks and scoring spectacular strikes from open play.

I’ve seen players like Waghorn before in Scottish football.

He’s a big guy, burly and a bruiser.

He’s the sort who can mix it up and get in about defenders.

But it’s a fairly one dimensional skill-set and the simple truth is that he wouldn’t get into better teams.

“There are a lot … going on about the competition but my job is a different job to his. He’s in the Premier League, I’m down here,” he said when a journalist asked him to compare his goal-scoring feats with that of our striker.

Leigh Griffiths is becoming a fantastic footballer, with pace and good feet and the goal-scorers eye.

On top of this, he’s demonstrated on countless occasions this season that he has a maturity to his game, and an unselfishness, which makes him more than just a skilled individual. He’s a true team player, the sort every club would love to have in its ranks.

He’s not simply the most improved player in the country, but he’s now, without dispute, the best player in the country as well, and he’s only going to get better as he grows into his role as a true Celtic number 9.

Martyn Waghorn has done well since signing for Sevco, comparatively speaking anyway.

But he’s nowhere near the standards our young striker is setting.

To his credit, he seems well aware of that fact.

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