SWEAR TO GORD ... OUR CRAIG'S JUST AS GOOD AS JENS OR OLLY

VALDAS IVANAUSKAS last night tipped Craig Gordon to become a better goalkeeper than world-famous names such as Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehman.

The Hearts coach was thrilled with the Scotland No.1's performance as he defied Siroki Brijeg with a string of superlative saves.

And Ivanauskas cited his personal experience of the Bundesliga to insist Gordon can go on to outperform some of the top keepers in Europe

After his team wrapped up victory in their Champions League qualifying tie, Ivanauskas said: "I played in Germany with Hamburg and came up against Kahn and Lehman.

"When you consider what Craig is doing at the age of 23 he has the potential to be better than them. He is such a good goalkeeper."

While Ivanauskas was happy to talk about his delight at Gordon's showing, he was less keen to comment on the rest of his team's display. He said: "I was happy with the result but not with the performance.

"It is better to say that I have worked with and played against the best goalkeepers in the world and Craig has what they had, in other words the ability to be special in big games."

Rival boss Ivita Barbaric also acknowledged Gordon's role in settling the tie. He said: "There was only one person who changed the course of the game and that was the Hearts goalkeeper."

Gordon, meanwhile, called on his team mates to revive the spirit of Bordeaux to carry the Tynecastle club into the Champions League proper at the expense of AEK Athens.

Two years ago, Hearts' victory over another Bosnian side in Europe, Zelzejnicar, set them up to go on and upset the French outfit in the UEFA Cup.

The memory of those exploits stirred something inside of Gordon as he reflected on his own personal-best performance in Mostar.

And the shot-stopper put modesty to one side, however, when he assessed his team's chances of going on from here and doing enough against AEK in the capital next week to safely negotiate the return leg in Athens.

Gordon said: "I knew it would be difficult for us tonightand that I might need to pull off a few saves because we were playing away from home in Europe.

"Some of them were at a good height for me and others were reflex saves from point-blank shots.

"Either way, I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.

"It was difficult for us because Siroki showed good resilience.

"I had thought they would be tougher away from home than they had shown themselves to be in the first leg at Murrayfield."

"But I'm confident we can go on and make it into the Champions League group stages. We have caused surprises before and, from my personal experience, none was greater than the 1-0 win over Bordeaux.

"I accept we will go into the tie against the Greeks as the underdogs and I would sum it up by saying we are one step closer to the Champions League, but still with a long way to go."

Gordon's team-mates could not help but show their high regard for the keeper at the end of a night when even his normally subdued manager had spoken in of him in such glowing terms.

Gordon said: "They were all happy for me but I thought everybody did a job and the shutout wasn't down to me alone.

"There were some decent blocks by our defence to prevent the ball getting to me and Julien Brellier would come back from the middle of the park as well to give us extra defensive cover.

"Maybe the saves could have been called turning points in the game but all I know is it was crucial to stop the Bosnians from gathering any momentum or growing in confidence."

Gordon will be crucial to Walter Smith's assault on a European Championship qualifying group which contains World Cup finalists Italy and France. The keeper, too, considers himself to be growing in stature.

Gordon said: "I think this Hearts side is maturing now. The result against Siroki was an experienced performance from a side who recorded a great achievement by not conceding a goal away from home.

"Any more clean sheets that come my way in Europe will leave me delighted. But I know that the whole team has to step up to another level for the game against the Greeks.

"We deserved to win this match but there is tougher still to come.

"The Bosnians attacked us more than they had done in Edinburgh and I thought they were always a danger to us. If we had lost an early goal it would have put us onto the back foot, but thankfully that never happened."

Taken from the Daily Record