Gordon aiming upwards again after a week of ‘the highs and lows of football’

Liam Gordon: Deflection.

St Johnstone defender Liam Gordonisdesperatefortomorrow’s game against Hibernian to come around after crashing down to earth from the highs of Rugby Park.

Gordon and his team-mates celebrated in style on Saturday as Michael O’halloran earned them a first win of the Scottish

Premiership season with a winner at Kilmarnock deep into stoppage time.

But the centre-back suffered a late blow on Thursday as Ryan Hedges’ shot deflected in off his heel to hand Aberdeen a 1-0 victory in Perth.

Gordon said: “Losing the game was a bitter pill for all the boys to swallow but we have a game on Sunday so we just need to focus on that now.

“When you look at the previous game, we had the highs of football and now we are facing the lows. It’s just about dusting ourselves down and focusing on Sunday and hopefully getting a positive result.”

Saints were denied a first clean sheet of the season by Hedges’ winner but Gordon is confident they can nullify the attacking threats of secondplaced Hibs, who have had wingers Martin Boyle and Daryl Horgan and strikers Christian Doidge and Kevin Nisbet weighing in with goals.

“There’s a lot of teams in the league that have good attacking options,” Gordon said.

“You could say Aberdeen have a lot of good attacking options and I thought we dealt with them well.

“We played Hibs pre-season and came up against all those players, their new players too, so we know what they are about.

“Hopefully we can handle them on Sunday and get a good result.”

Aberdeen players enjoyed their 1-0 victory over St Johnstone on Thursday but none more than Tommie Hoban, who had not played for 18 months.

The defender suffered cruciate ligament damage while playing on loan for Aberdeen from Watford in February 2019, the latest blow in a career that has been undermined by serious injury problems.

The 26-year-old feared his career was over during lockdown but he signed a short-term deal with the Dons after being invited to complete his rehabilitation in Aberdeen.

“I have played a lot of games but it’s been 18 months so I had to remember how to do it,” the centre-back said. “There’s always nerves before games. I was nervous but at the same time I was excited.

“Three months ago I literally had no idea if I was going to get back so I just tried to enjoy it and that’s what I am going to do for every game now. Once you have that feeling that it’s possibly over, it definitely does make you appreciate the opportunity.

“Not having it for a long time makes it feel even more special.”

Meanwhile,formeraberdeen winger, Frank Ross, who signed for Go-ahead Eagles this week, says he is relishing the “neat structure” of Dutch football.

“In Scotland, the long ball is regularly used and it often happened that I only saw the ball constantly flying over me,” he told his new club’s website.

Livingston manager Gary Holt is pursuing the potential signing of Anthony Stokes following a busy day of transfer activity.

“He’s another one that’s on the radar,” Holt said. “I like what he brings, I like his qualities.

“Being honest, he’s probably someone we might not have got in the past. But there’s an opportunity and we will have a look at it. Hopefully we will have a chat with him and we’ll take it from there.”