Gordon wants Romanov to suffer

VLADIMIR Romanov may fund his not insubstantial wage packet, but Craig Gordon will have no qualms about forcing a frown to form on his club owner's face tomorrow night.

Both Romanov and the Hearts goalkeeper will put country firmly ahead of club in Kaunas when Lithuania entertain Scotland in a European Championship Group B qualifier heavily loaded with Gorgie sub-plots.

Places on the SFA's return charter flight have even been reserved for Deividas Cesnauskis, Saulius Mikoliunas and Marius Zaliukas, the three Hearts players in the Lithuanian squad, while Romanov will be in the front row of the VIP section at the stadium in his home city.

Gordon, however, is determined that any goodwill towards the country which bears such an influence on his club career waits until after he helps Scotland maintain their winning start to the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

"I hope Mr Romanov comes back to Edinburgh with his tail between his legs," said Scotland's No 1.

"I'm sure he will be wanting Lithuania to beat us, but Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and myself will be stressing to the rest of our players that just can't happen.

"It seems we are bringing Hearts' Lithuanian lads home with us on our plane. I won't be speaking to them before the game, but I will speak to them afterwards. They haven't really said much about the game in the build-up. They've kept themselves to themselves and stayed quiet about it. I hope they are coming back dispirited. We are looking to get another three points which would make it an excellent start to the campaign for us."

Gordon was a spectator three years ago when Scotland lost 1-0 to Lithuania in Kaunas, courtesy of controversial penalty kick awarded when Darius Maciulevicius appeared to take a dive when challenged by Jackie McNamara.

The 23-year-old takes a pragmatic view of such dubious tactics and freely admits he would be happy for Scotland to adopt them tomorrow if it means reversing the result. "That's part of the game these days," said Gordon. "If a player can gain an advantage for his team in international football, then he is going to do that.

"Sometimes they go for you, sometimes against you. It's up to how the referee sees it. With the amount of it that goes on, referees are going to get it wrong from time to time.

"It's something no-one likes to see, but it definitely happens and you have to deal with it. I'm sure there are a few Scottish guys who would go down easily to win free-kicks or penalties as well. I don't think it's just a foreign thing anymore, you see it every week in every league in the world. If there is going to be a crackdown on it, I don't really know how you can cut it out.

"If someone can get a wee edge for their team, they are going to do it. You have to join in with them and try and learn. It's clever play, that's one way of looking at it.

"It's all about winning football matches. It doesn't really matter how you go about doing that. If you can win 1-0 with a penalty you didn't deserve, then you'll do that. It's three European Championship points and you'll get them any way possible."

Gordon recorded only his fifth clean sheet in 16 appearances for Scotland in Saturday's 6-0 defeat of the Faroe Islands at Parkhead but anticipates a far more testing 90 minutes in Kaunas.

"Both teams will be going into this game with confidence," he said, "with Lithuania getting that 1-1 draw in Italy on Saturday night. I was actually speaking to Deividas Cesnauskis about the Italy game a couple of weeks ago and I told him I felt it was the best time to play them, with the Italian league season not having started yet. It was the ideal opportunity for Lithuania to try and get something. He didn't seem to agree with me, but although it was a surprise result, it was one I always felt was a possibility.

"We know Lithuania have good players but we have to take as many points as we can from the sides who are seeded below us. They are not that far behind us in the rankings at the moment and we want to show we are better than them. To do that, we need to get three points. I'll be busier than I was on Saturday, but it was nice to get a clean sheet and I'm looking for two in a row."

Gordon will relish the reassurance of two central defenders making landmark appearances in the match. His club captain Steven Pressley will set a new caps record of 30 for a Hearts player, while David Weir will win his 50th cap.

"It's fantastic for big Elvis," said Gordon. "He's been a fantastic player for Hearts over the past nine years. He had to wait a long time for his first cap, because Scotland were so well-off for defenders for so long, and now he's set for his 30th. He deserves every single one of them. He is a great organiser, something really good to have in any team.

"Big Davie is also a class act. I remember watching him play for Hearts when I was younger. He has shown he can do it at any level. They are a fantastic pairing to play behind, two very experienced guys who can only help me."

Taken from the Scotsman