Griffiths bags hat-trick as Celtic thrash Killie

Super-sub Leigh Griffiths scored a hat-trick as Celtic came from behind to claim a 4-1 win over Kilmarnock that extends their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

After a first half that failed to produce a shot on target, Kilmarnock took a surprise lead in the 50th minute as Daryl Westlake`s deflected shot got the better of Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

The Hoops weren`t behind for long, though, as Scott Brown fired them level in the 58th minute before Griffiths headed the home side in front eight minutes later.

Griffiths claimed his second in the 80th minute with a vicious strike from 25 yards before completing his hat-trick with an angled shot five minutes from time to send Celtic eight points clear of Aberdeen with just six matches remaining.

"Defensively we were very good for the first 60 minutes, but our attacking play was too slow," Celtic manager Ronny Deila said.

"With Leigh coming on we had a lot of momentum and we finally opened them up and got our goals."

Killie manager Gary Locke looked for positives in defeat.

"I thought the game plan was working a treat. We were quite compact, well-organised and their fans were starting to get frustrated and then we went a goal up," he said.

"We probably should have defended better, but I think we have to look at the positives and we contained them for long spells."Deila made four changes as he looked to freshen up his side from their drab draw with Inverness CT at the weekend.

The Hoops monopolised possession from the start, but despite their pressure they were unable to test Killie `keeper Craig Samson and were continually left frustrated on their frequent forays forward.

Virgil van Dijk had the home fans out of their seats when he rose unchallenged to connect with a Kris Commons corner to send a bullet header towards goal, but his effort flashed narrowly wide.

A shot on target finally came immediately after the break when John Guidetti played the ball into Brown`s path, but the Celtic captain fired his shot straight at Samson.

This sparked their opponents into life and Killie took a shock lead with their first shot on goal in the 50th minute.

Westlake worked room for himself at the edge of the Celtic box and his strike took a wicked deflection off Jason Denayer to completely wrong-foot `keeper Gordon on its way into the net.

Brown hauled them back on equal terms in the 58th minute. A poor defensive header reached Sammy Clingan on the edge of the box and the Celtic captain dispossessed him before lashing a shot into the roof of the net from 10 yards.

Celtic took the lead for the first time in the 66th minute through substitute Griffiths.

Commons showed some fancy footwork in the box before floating a cross to the back post where the Scottish striker sent a header into the turf and bouncing over the outstretched hand of Samson.

Stefan Johansen missed an open goal before Griffiths got his second with a superb low strike from 25 yards that swerved away from Samson before crashing into the net off the inside of the post.

The striker then completed his hat-trick 24 minutes after coming on to replace the ineffectual James Forrest when he beat the offside trap to latch on to a long ball over the top of the Killie defence and drill an angled shot into the bottom right-hand corner.