Gordon provides tonic in refreshing performance

Alan Campbell on an impressive display by the Hearts No 1 to keep the Italians at bay

IT may embarrass Walter Smith to be reminded of it, but one of his early pronouncements on being installed as Scotland manager was that Rab Douglas, and not Craig Gordon, would be his first-choice goalkeeper. Yesterday, the 22-year-old Gordon confirmed that he is the nation’s future.

In contrast to his opposite number Angelo Peruzzi, Gordon was a busy figure and set the tone for Scotland’s defiant performance when he stood up to Christian Zaccardo after just 90 seconds and made a crucial block from the full back. Gordon has now racked up 10 caps at an age when most goalkeepers are left on the bench by their clubs.

Throughout the game, and especially in the second half when the Scots came under siege, the Hearts goalie was commanding in his handling and a source of confidence for the Scottish side. He was unlucky with the Italian goal, making an instinctive left-handed save from Darren Fletcher’s inadvertent backwards header, and then being left with no chance when Jackie McNamara’s slight deflection off Fabio Grosso’s shot allowed the visitors to equalise.

“I would have saved it if he hadn’t touched it,” claimed Gordon. “It was coming straight at me and the wee touch just lifted it over the top. It was a scrappy goal to lose from our point of view, because we’ve worked hard on set-pieces, but on the whole we’ve got to be happy with a draw.”

Alarmingly, given Douglas’s unconvincing performance in the second half of the friendly against Austria last month when a lapse allowed the home team to equalise, there were late fears that Gordon might miss yesterday’s match. It is a measure of how important he has already become to this revitalised Scottish side that there was widespread relief when his name appeared on the team sheet.

“I staved the pinkie in my left hand on Thursday and had it x-rayed to make sure there were no bones broken,” he revealed. “I said to the physio that even if it was broken was there something I could do with it to let me play.” In the event, he was given the all-clear.

Although, as a 15-year-old, he was almost released by Hearts because he was too small, Gordon now stands at 6ft 4in and, in a strip which was more rust than the Tyne castle maroon, he looked an imposing figure. When he fills out his frame will become even more intimidating, but it was more than enough yesterday to thwart Zaccardo from five yards. “I didn’t know too much about it,” he admitted. “The ball bounced to the guy at the back post and I’ve more or less chucked myself out at his feet and the ball has come off my thigh and gone to safety. It was an important save, and I was just quite happy to keep it out.”

Although the goalkeeper had much to thank central defenders David Weir and Andy Webster for in keeping the Italian strikers at bay, his decisive smothering of the ball whenever it reached him in the second half was crucial to Scotland’s survival. Gordon’s technique was shown to best effect when he confidently held Mauro Camoranesi’s dangerous low whipped cross from the right five minutes from time; his kicking with his left foot too, was crisp and long.

At the other end Peruzzi, deputising for the legendary Gianluigi Buffon who injured his shoulder in a pre-season friendly between Juventus and Milan, was almost a peripheral figure in the proceedings. The 35-year-old Lazio goalkeeper, who was winning his 29th cap, hardly touched the ball throughout the 90 minutes.

Having controversially picked up an Andrea Pirlo flick which could easily have been construed as a pass-back early on, his next action was to pick the ball out of the net after Kenny Miller’s marvellous header gave Scotland the lead in the 13th minute.

Once the game has been analysed by the Scotland camp, it will be a sobering realisation that Peruzzi did not have to make a single save. The only times the veteran had to use his hands were to clutch harmless crosses from Barry Ferguson and Neil McCann; between the 39th minute, when he took a free-kick in his box after a Nigel Quashie foul, and the 74th, when he fielded an Alessandro Nesta pass-back, the Italian goalkeeper was totally unemployed.

Gordon is never likely to encounter such an easy afternoon, no matter how much this side continues to improve. It says a great deal for Craig Levein, his former manager, that he was prepared to give the young goalie a sustained run in the Hearts side; Scotland are now reaping the benefit. It’s early days, of course, but is Jim Leighton’s goalkeeping record of 91 caps a realistic target?

Taken from the Sunday Herald