We were this close to magnificent start
7 points out of 9 not too shabby for Craig
CRAIG GORDON reckons Hearts’ Premiership return has been close to magnificent. And the Tynecastle skipper believes more arrivals such as new signing Ben Woodburn will help the squad keep improving and building on their topflight return. Robbie Neilson’s troops have rocketed out of the blocks and currently sit joint top of the table having collected seven points from t h e i r opening three games. Life is rosy in Gorgie. The big time is back and the stadium was packed to the rafters again for the first time in almost 18 months for the weekend draw with Aberdeen which maintained the unbeaten league start. New boys such as Beni Banangime and Alex Cochrane have been hugely impressive and Liverpool kid Woodburn is the latest in the door having sealed a loan switch from Anfield. Gordon feels the momentum and said: “We still had confidence coming into the season that we could pick up points, we’re still undefeated, so that probably is ahead of where everybody thought we’d be at this stage. “We can take the positives from that, we’d like to have won against Aberdeen and it was all there for us to go and get three points, which would’ve made it a magnificent start. “But we’ve got to be satisfied with what we’ve picked up so far. “It’s going to be a long season, so we’ll take the seven points and move on to the next week. “We’re rebuilding. It won’t happen overnight. We’ll keep trying to improve and we’ve got a lot of fight in the squad.
“You could see that against Aberdeen in what was an intense game. High pace, high energy, not always the best quality we’d have liked, but the fight was there.
“And if the supporters see that we’re willing to fight as much as that for each other, we’ll go on and have a really successful season.
“If we put in that effort and work for each other, not everything came off for us, but we didn’t lose which is important.
“We want to be getting the points at home, especially. So we will take the positives and try to improve.
“Dundee United next week, if we can win that, then we’re in a great position going into the international break.”
Gordon has extra reason to enjoy the return having been slung the armband at the start of the campaign.
The 38-year-old admits it was a very emotional moment to lead the troops out for the Dons game in front of over 17,000 at Tynecastle.
So emotional, in fact, he had to try and not even let it enter his head.
Gordon said: “It was huge. I tried not to think about it too much, because if I thought about that then it would have been too much for me.
“I just had to focus on what I had to do in the game. Definitely in the days leading up to the game, knowing I was going to do that was a great feeling.
“I had to shut that out while it was happening because that’s the best feeling any Hearts fan can have. To go out in that atmosphere and lead the team out was special.
“Hearing that Hearts song being sung, it’s so special to everyone in my family.
“It was a great occasion for me and it was just a pity we didn’t get the three points to go with it. But it was brilliant. The fans have been missed.”