Let’s hope life begins at 40 for Gordon ... or Scotland will toil

WHATEVER Craig Gordon is sprinkling on his cornflakes, here’s hoping he doesn’t run out of the magic formula any time soon.

For those of us who spent the early weeks of their newborns’ lives walking around like an extra from The Walking Dead, talking to him inside Hampden last weekend — bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after the arrival of young Axel earlier in the day and the small matter of 90 minutes against Ireland — was another reminder that you never did manage to work out the rules of this Game of Life, did you? One slack pass to a rival centre-forward excluded, Gordon’s contributions to the win over the Irish and the midweek draw with Ukraine that secured Nations League promotion were huge.

When Scotland are reduced to picking a Rangers reserve goalkeeper who hasn’t played in a year to fill the squad, though, it makes it clear just how much we need the Hearts man to keep on trucking beyond the Big Four-Oh in December — because the mind boggles over how the country copes without him.