Levein vows to nurture young Gordon

GRAEME CROSER

HEARTS boss Craig Levein has vowed to continue shielding Craig Gordon from the media spotlight - but admitted the young keeper’s impressive performances are making his job increasingly difficult.

The 20-year-old was again outstanding in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox, impressing with both his shotstopping and overall command of his penalty area.

Gordon’s dominance in such an intimidating environment drew admiring glances from all observers, including Gers boss Alex McLeish, and already there is talk of a full international call-up.

Levein, however, is reluctant to build up the youngster and insisted that Finn Tepi Moilanan - who hasn’t featured since letting in five goals at Celtic Park in October - is still his No.1 goalkeeper.

He said: "I’m trying my best to bring Craig along gently and protect him from the media.

The problem is he keeps having games like that and making it harder for me!

"He is a smashing talent but I don’t want the press attention to take anything away from his concentration.

"I still regard Tepi as my No.1, but Craig has been doing his case no harm."

Levein reserved special praise for the players he deployed out of position at the weekend.

Shorn of defensive regulars Steven Pressley, Alan Maybury and Andy Webster, and with top scorer Mark De Vries fit only for a place on the bench, the head coach was forced to reshuffle for the journey to Glasgow.

Scott Severin and Patrick Kisnorbo formed a makeshift central defensive partnership, with Kevin McKenna pushed forward to operate as a striker.

The result was the Jambos’ best away performance against either Old Firm side for some time and, although frustrated at his side’s inability to take their chances, Levein was heartened by their effort and adaptability.

He said: "The players who were brought in and played out of position did really well. Patrick hasn’t played much at centre-half for us and considering it was his first time at Ibrox I thought he did well.

"In defence we had a couple of bad moments positionally but I felt as the game wore on that improved, as did Patrick’s overall performance."

Levein, meanwhile, declared himself satisfied with the draw for the third round of the Tennents Scottish Cup after the Jambos were handed a home tie against Berwick Rangers.

"I was relieved to see us come out of the hat first," he said.

Taken from the Scotsman