CRAIG GORDON is determined not to stage an action replay when he faces Ross County in this afternoon’s League Cup semi-final.
The last time the 33-year-old international keeper played at Hampden, he was red-carded as Celtic crashed 3-2 in controversial circumstances to Inverness Caley Thistle in extra-time in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Gordon was dismissed early in the second-half after a foul on Marley Watkins with the Hoops leading 1-0 through a fabulous free-kick from Virgil van Dijk.
Referee Steven MacLean refused Ronny Deila’s men a stonewall penalty-kick when Josh Meekings punched away a goalbound header from Leigh Griffiths just before the interval.
However, the match official wasn’t slow in sending off the shotstopper and awarding a spot-kick which provided the turning point in an exciting tussle.
Gordon said: “These things can happen in football. It wasn’t the first time and, hopefully, it won’t be the last as it means I can play on for a good few years yet.
“I probably would have thought about the red card more when I was younger. We thought we had a good chance of getting the treble, but I’ve dealt with worse than that. Just getting back to playing football was bigger for me.
“Whatever comes my way on the pitch now, I can handle better than how I used to.
”Of course, though, we want to win everything we possibly can, but it’s not something that is talked about day in, day out.
“We want to win every game and if we can do that then that would be the result. Everybody is aware of that. It’s not something that I’ve personally spoken about to anybody, though.
“We all know that while we’re in the three competitions, that’s the possibility. But the treble is hardly ever done and that in itself shows you how difficult it is.
“It’s a special group of players who can sustain a run for that length of time. Come the end of the season it could be more than 60 games. To come through that and win three competitions? It’s rare for a reason. It’s a fantastic thing to try to aim for, but at the moment it still feels a long way away.”
Despite being sent off last season, Gordon has plenty of happy memories to cling to. He won the Scottish Cup with Hearts in 2006, and the League Cup with the Hoops last year in the 2-0 win over Dundee United.
He added: “There are certainly more happy memories than not.
“I feel good and I want to go on playing as long as I can. As long as I’m still doing well enough to be here and be playing then, hopefully, I can stay here for quite some time yet.
“I don’t want to stop too early, but, at the same time, you don’t want to drag it out too long and end up costing a few more games than you should and ruining the good work that I’ve done previously.
“When things start to slow and I’m not getting down to the ball as much, I’ll know probably before anyone else, and I’ll make that call.
“But I’m hoping it’s still quite a wee while away.”
