The Scotland goalkeeper has missed only one game all season — when suspension allowed Steve Banks to play at Celtic Park last October — and that consistency of selection has been matched by performance as Gordon has delivered match-winning displays that gathered vital points in the pursuit of Champions League football and took his team to the Tennent’s Scottish Cup final.

That peerless devotion to perfection earned him the award of Scotland’s Footballer of the Year and it is something that Valdas Ivanauskas can count upon at Easter Road today. The Lithuanian caretaker coach completes a remarkable statistic that may never be repeated again: he is the fourth different man in charge of Hearts in a Premierleague derby this season.

After George Burley enjoyed a 4-1 win at Tynecastle last August, John McGlynn, the assistant coach, stepped into the fray for the defeat at Easter Road in October after Burley’s sacking. Then Graham Rix was in charge for another 4-1 success back at Tynecastle in January, before he too was sacked by Romanov. Ivanauskas, of course, already has a win over Hibernian to his name, guiding Hearts to that impressive 4-0 rout at Hampden Park in the Scottish Cup semi- final.

That was regarded as “The Mother of All Edinburgh Derbies”, but just a few weeks later, along comes another that matters just as deeply to both sides. The outcome will affect the European ambitions of both. Ivanauskas will rely on Gordon’s composure on the big stage just as Craig Levein, John Robertson, Burley and Rix did, not to mention Walter Smith who has installed the 23-year-old as Scotland’s unchallenged No 1.

Gordon is so convinced that Hearts can match his own ambition that he recently signed a new long-term contract for the Tynecastle club until 2009. In an era when his various managers would describe a season as long-term and two years as worthy of a watch — the item, worth £2,600, given to Gordon as a prize for his award — the Hearts goalkeeper is one person who is making plans for the future.

“One of the first things in my mind when I signed the new deal was that there was a chance of Champions League football,” Gordon said. “I want to play at the highest level with the team I have supported all my life. It would be great to go in with a group of players I have grown up with. I also had to consider my Scotland place. I needed to make sure I was playing every week and maintaining my place.

“There were plenty of things to consider but the Champions League was the main thing. It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase your talents on the biggest stage. There are no guarantees in football but Hearts offered me a good contract and first-team football with the possibility of the Champions League. That was a package I couldn’t turn down.

“Most of the players in that dressing-room would give anything to have a bash at the European Cup. A few have been there and we’ve got one, Edgaras Jankauskas, who has gone all the way and won it (with FC Porto in 2004), but many of the guys, like myself, are desperate to taste it for the first time. To finish this season with the Scottish Cup and a Champions League spot would be a tremendous success.

“We have shown we are a good team, and in European competition we have shown we are capable of going away from home and getting results. I have played in winning teams against Bordeaux and Basle and we got a draw in Braga. We can go to places and get good results. I see no reason why we couldn’t continue that in the European Cup — you see Basle getting to the quarterfinals of the Uefa Cup this year and they were unlucky to go out to Middlesbrough.

“These are top-quality teams and if we get to the Champions League we can definitely hold our own. I’m sure there will be a few additions to the squad in the summer. The number of players coming in has been incredible — I’ve just about learnt all their names now with four games to go. Some, like José Goncalves, have been outstanding but the main thing is that we’ve added depth to the squad. You can see how that’s helped in the last few games when we have been missing several defenders but are still bringing in experienced players who know the positions.”

Yet Gordon’s imperious position now — he has been hailed by one of his Tynecastle predecessors, Antti Niemi, now at Fulham, as one of the best young goalkeepers in Europe — is in stark contrast to the uncertainty he faced when he broke into the teams four years ago.

Gordon points to Hearts’ Uefa Cup win in Bordeaux in 2002 as the moment his career took off, but admits he feared he might lose his place for the game in France.

“We were playing Falkirk at Tynecastle in the CIS Cup and I didn’t do very well that night,” he recalls. “I cost us as bad goal, letting one from Russell Latapy go under me. That was only two games before the match in Bordeaux but Craig (Levein) stuck by me for the next game, which was against Livingston.

I played quite well that day and managed to keep my place for Bordeaux and that was the biggest turning point in the early part of my career. I did really well across there and was very happy with the result (Hearts won 1-0).

“That was really the kick-start for my career, but it would have been very easy for Craig to have dropped me after the Falkirk game. I was a young goalie coming in for a couple of games and had made a mistake. He had a more experienced goalkeeper in Tepi Moilanen, but he stuck by me and that was a big decision for him and was one of the decisions that helped me get to where I am today.”

The fact that Levein was part of a swift turnover that has seen five men pass through the Tynecastle dugout to guide the side since Romanov took, simply underlines what an impressive job that he and the other established players like Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley have done. “You almost become immune to it,” Gordon explains.

“You go in and you do your training (with) whoever’s taking it and you play your games. The basis of the team hasn’t really changed. Different managers have come in, but it’s been pretty much the same team that has been playing on a regular basis. One or two different guys have come in now and again, but on the whole it’s the same side that’s been together since the beginning of the season and as a group of players we’ve gelled together very well and whatever else has happened we’ve taken it in a our stride.

“Obviously, we’ve still got a few games to go but we have a chance to really prove ourselves by getting a Champions League spot and winning the Scottish Cup.”