Leigh Griffiths: Celtic striker 'victim' in incident with fan - Neil Lennon

Leigh Griffiths was the "victim" not the "perpetrator" of an incident with a Kilmarnock fan in Celtic's win at Rugby Park, says manager Neil Lennon.

Griffiths, 29, threw a piece of tape towards the stands as he was substituted with 10 minutes left of the 3-1 win in which he scored.

The incident sparked a fracas between home fans and the Celtic bench.

"He's the victim of unsavoury abuse which was totally uncalled for," Lennon told BBC Scotland.

"He threw a little bit of tape in somebody's direction but not forcefully or anything like that.

• Griffiths scores again as Celtic beat Kilmarnock

"There was nothing malicious in it. A few of his team-mates and myself on the bench were defending him because there was no need for it.

"His behaviour tonight was exemplary and he didn't react in a malicious way at all."

Griffiths scored Celtic's second goal and assisted the third as they maintained their two-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

It was the Scotland striker's second goal in two games as he started back-to-back matches for the first time since July after struggling with injury for large parts of the season.

"He is getting better and better," Lennon added of Griffiths. "He always seems to get controversy around him but I will back him to the hilt on this one, his behaviour was top class, as was his performance."

Celtic lost Jeremie Frimpong to injury in the closing minutes against Kilmarnock, as the right-back was carried off on a stretcher after a challenge from Alan Power.

But Lennon says the injury is not as serious as first thought, allaying fears the 19-year-old could join Hatem Abd Elhamed as a long-term absentee at right-back.

"I don't think it's a fracture or anything like that," the Celtic manager said. "It's a little bit of bruising. It may flare up tomorrow we'll have to see how he is but we're hopeful it's not as bad as we first thought."