WE CAN BANK ON GORDON
Brown hails Celtic No 1 after his crucial saves prevent an upset against old rivals
SCOTT BROWN paid tribute to his Celtic and Scotland team-mate Craig Gordon for two stunning saves that prevented Rangers from plundering a shock victory at Parkhead.
The Celtic skipper watched as Gordon tipped an acrobatic James Tavernier shot over the bar then bettered that with a breathtaking block to deny Alfredo Morelos from five yards out.
Those second-half stops handed Celtic a fourth successive clean sheet since their unbeaten record was halted by Hearts in that 4-0 Tynecastle loss and maintained an 11-point gap back to Rangers in third.
Aberdeen’s 0-0 draw at home to Hearts means the Parkhead side preserve their eight-point title lead over the Dons heading into a welcome winter break for Celtic after their European exertions and recordbreaking domestic feats.
After Gordon ensured Brendan Rodgers’ unbeaten run in Old Firm clashes, Brown said: ‘Craigy is fantastic. There are a lot of people who doubt him but it shows you what a class goalie he is yet again. He’s great with his feet and he makes
those great saves and that’s why we pay top dollar — to have a top keeper like that.
‘But in the first half their goalie made a couple of saves as well.
‘It wasn’t like we were ever going to be done for. In the past, we would maybe have lost a late goal but it shows you our fitness and we have a top-quality goalkeeper who kept us in the game.
‘Yet again, we could have scored a few in the first half which could have made it nice and cushy for us. But it wasn’t to be.’
Those chances in the first 45 minutes fell to Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele, Celtic’s two star men during meetings with Rangers last season.
Graeme Murty’s side kept them quiet yesterday to move into the winter break after an unexpected draw but Brown was content to avoid losing to their old rivals.
‘These games are always tough,’ he said. ‘Since the manager came in, we have done really well in them, though. We’ve had six wins and two draws, so it’s been not too bad for us and a great year overall.
‘You’ve got to take the positives out of that. We tried to be dominant and play our own way.
‘The first half they managed to close us down and in the second half they did a bit better than they did in the first.
‘If we scored just one of our chances in the first half, you can kick on from there, so we were a bit unlucky that way. They came out for the second half with a little bit more belief.
‘It has been a phenomenal year. Now we can have down time and enjoy time with family.’ Yesterday marked Brown’s 36th game of a season that stretches back to July 14 in Belfast on the road to Champions League qualification and featured two World Cup qualifiers for Scotland. ‘When you look across the board in Europe we’re probably up there with the most that’s been played,’ said Brown. ‘And it’s only going to get longer next season with Champions League qualifying. ‘That’s football. We enjoy playing games but we also enjoy rest. It will be like a mini pre-season with the week off that we get then we’re off to Dubai.’