‘SCOTS DRAW IS IN PAST – NOW IT’S ALL ABOUT CELTIC,’ GORDON

CRAIG GORDON forced himself to watch the replay of Harry Kane’s stoppage-time goal that gave England a 2-2 World Cup draw with Scotland at Hampden earlier this month.

The goalkeeper was criticised for failing to come off his line to take Raheem Sterling’s cross before it reached the Spurs striker.

However, Gordon said: “I only saw it again for the first time a few days ago. I probably still think the same way I did at the time.

“I thought Kane was going to head it, but by the time he lets it drop to the point where he can volley it. It’s close to the goal. There are split-second decisions and I won’t get every one right in the season, but I got most of them right through 60 games.

“When you look back you may wish you’d done something else, but I’m comfortable in my own head why I made that decision.

“But I think we did lose concentration. We cleared the free-kick 30 yards from goal before it came in and I think we thought that was us.

“We were waiting for the final whistle. The ball came back in the box and we lost the goal.

“I probably thought we had won it when I saved the free-kick, although that’s not the right thing to think at that stage. If we’d just managed to keep hold of the ball for 30 seconds, we’d have done it.”

Gordon, 34, stressed the game had already been consigned to the past. He added: “It doesn’t knock on to Celtic stuff.

“We played in a totally different way in that England game to the way we would play here. It was very defensive to keep England out for most of the game. We didn’t carry a great deal of threat. It’s a different team and a different style.

“When we come back to Celtic, then we know how to go about our business here. Mentally, it’s fine. It was a draw that should have been a win, but we’re okay. That’s football.

“You take it on the chin and get on with the next game and my next game is to build for the Champions league qualifier.”

Also on CQN today…

Meanwhile, we have been promoting issue 1 of the new CQN Podcast this week but for those who missed the Pilot Edition the week before this is very much worth a listen!