Goalkeeper’s delight as big games come thick and fast again

Craig Gordon has no problem with Scotland’s season ending so close to the start of Celtic’s next campaign as he cannot get enough big-match action.

But the goalkeeper understands that teammate Scott Brown will have to make a decision based on his own body.

Gordon’s career at one stage looked to be over because of a knee injury but he has returned to top form with club and country and is relishing the World Cup qualifier against England on June 10.

Brown will decide nearer the time whether he is available after coming out of international retirement to help manager Gordon Strachan and the team – a decision vindicated by Sunday’s 1-0 win against Slovenia, which breathed new life into Scotland’s qualifying hopes.

Celtic begin Champions League qualifying in the second week of July but Gordon is happy to see one big occasion coming hot on the heels of another after playing one match in almost three and a half years when he should have been reaching his peak.

“I just play in every game I possibly can,” said Gordon, who was yesterday back at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training ground after his international stint.

“There’s a sacrifice when you’re an international – you don’t get as much holiday time. But I had a long spell out of the game so I want to play in every game between now and the end of my career.

“This season has been great for big games, both at club level and getting into the Champions League, and also the internationals, I have managed to get myself back in the team in the last two qualifiers. It’s been a season of big highs for me personally so far so I will just try and keep that going as long as possible.”

Brown benefited from a six-week break last summer but his physical improvement surprised even himself, prompting a Scotland change of mind after missing the first three qualifiers.

But Gordon thinks the 31-year-old will not be the only player whose physical shape might determine Strachan’s selection, saying: “He’s a big player but it depends entirely on how he is physically and mentally at the end of a hard season.

“We have still got nine or 10 games to go – he has still got a big effort to put in before then. He is not getting any younger but he will make that decision closer to the time when he knows how he’s feeling.

“There will be a lot of us who have had a long, hard season and it might just come down to who is in the best physical shape to go out there and play in that game.

“There’s a lot of football to be played and you never know with injuries.”

“Had a long spell out of the game so I want to play in every game”

Scott Brown: Six-week break last summer