CRAIG GORDON made a world class save as Hearts managed to beat their Edinburgh rivals to book a spot in the Scottish Cup Final. With Celtic to play Aberdeen tomorrow, the winners will face Robbie Neilson’s side. Neil Lennon has a selection headache between £4.5m signing Vasilis Barkas and Scott Bain, with the ex-Dundee goalie managing to save a penalty in the draw against Lille.
Barkas has struggled since arriving from AEK Athens this summer. The Greek Internationalist has conceded 11 goals in 14 games with some questioning whether he is worthy of the price tag that the club paid for him. Bain was in goals for the game v Aberdeen and Lille, with Barkas suffering a shoulder complaint and now the manager has to decide who will start on Sunday.
Gordon meanwhile earned plaudits for his displays this season for Hearts, especially in the Cup semi versus Hibs as he walked away with the MOTM Accolade.
Congratulations to Craig Gordon on being named tonight's @WilliamHill Man of the Match.#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/GKhiorJIp5
— William Hill Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) October 31, 2020
Scott Bain ousted Gordon as club No.1 in January 2019 before Gordon managed to win the gloves back after Bain’s injury. However, Fraser Forster’s arrival demoted Gordon once again and he was unable to force his way back into the side.
Gordon has spent six years at Celtic but following the expiry of his deal, no agreement was reached leaving the Invincible ‘keeper free to join any club. Hearts swooped to sign their former £9m export, who played just six games for Celtic since the beginning of 2019.
Admittedly, Gordon had the ability to make some top saves but his Celtic career appeared to have stalled and in order to gain first team football he wasn’t willing to risk being second choice at Celtic. Unfortunately for Neil Lennon, he was unable to get his first choice Fraser Forster and Barkas was imported.
