Gordon: I would never be happy as No 2 but I’ll do it for Scotland

● Celtic keeper reckons battle with Mcgregor is far from over

finals and I like to think we have a good chance of getting to the Euros so I’m definitely not going to say I don’t want to be involved. I want to be first choice but I’d be happy to go along as back-up if need be.

“So I won’t be chucking the toys out of the pram, because I want to do the best I can for my country. If the decision is taken out of my hands, then fair enough. At some point we are going to have to bring young goalies through. It’s a balancing act between being selfish and giving others an opportunity a couple of years down the line.

“It might have been the case this time that people looked at it and thought Allan is first pick because he played in the qualifier. But we’ve got another two games next time. If that becomes a pattern, then yeah.

“But it could be the other way around next time. I don’t know what the manager is thinking, you would need to ask him. I wasn’t told a great deal, other than we were playing one game each this time. Who knows what’s going to happen, who’s going to be fit for the next one, who’s in form or whatever?

“I want to play as many as I possibly can, I want to play every one if I could. But that’s the manager’s decision. I need to play as well as I can for Celtic. I need to train well with Scotland – I was happy with how I trained this time – then it’s up to the manager.”

Gordon’s club goalkeeper coach, Stevie Woods, now has

CRAIG GORDON the same role with Scotland but the former Hearts and Sunderland player says that does not impact on his chances of being picked ahead of Mcgregor.

Gordon added: “It was the same thing the other way round when Jim Stewart was the national team’s goalie coach while at Rangers with Allan and I was playing for Scotland. These things happen. Goalies know the situation, only one is going to play. We both respect each other and the abilities we’ve got. There’s no problem between us and Woodsy enjoyed the coaching with all of us.”

Gordon returns to domestic action tonight as he seeks a fourth consecutive clean sheet for Celtic when they face St Mirren in Paisley on Premiership business.

“We want to kick on, do better and improve our game,” he said. “We want a good run of victories with as many clean sheets as we can. We had three in a row before the international break and we want to continue to improve on that.

“We played very well in the last game before the international break against Rangers and to only win it 1-0 was a little bit less than what we deserved from the game.

“We should have scored more goals. We were very dominant and we looked at some things again this morning in terms of what we did well and things we want to keep going.

“We’ve got a busy spell of games now at home and in Europe which is great. Everyone is looking fit and well and ready to go. It is a busy time but we have a good squad that is ready for that.”

0 Allan Mcgregor, left, and Craig Gordon played one game each for Scotland in the recent double

“I won’t be chucking the toys out of the pram, because I want to dothebesticanformy country. If the decision is taken out of my hands, fair enough”