Craig Gordon is encouraged by how his injury rehabilitation is progressing – but won’t tempt putting a timescale on a comeback.
The 40-year-old Hearts and Scotland keeper suffered a devastating double leg fracture in a Christmas Eve draw with Dundee United, ruling him out for the rest of the season and beyond.
Days later, Gordon denied reports he was set to retire after undergoing an operation to repair the damage. The veteran, however, remains mindful his recovery will be a ‘slow process’ as he issued a positive update on his condition.
“Am I happy with where I am? Yeah, I think so,” Gordon said. “I’m just over eight weeks in now. I’ll go back and see the surgeons at the end of next month and see how it’s going,
“But yeah, I’m happy with how it’s going. It’s going to be a slow process, I am well aware of that.
“I knew that from the beginning. I think I’m doing pretty well for how it has gone so far.
“I don’t have a schedule, there is no end date in mind.
“It’s just about getting back and doing everything I can to make sure that when the bone is healed I am in a good place to start exercising again and getting back out to do the goalkeeping work to try and get myself fit again.”
Gordon will play no part in Scotland’s upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers, but it’s been mooted he could make a grand return for the tournament itself – if, of course, Steve Clarke’s side can qualify.
But the former Celtic star is keeping his focus on short-term goals.
“It’s too far away at the moment, at the moment it’s keeping it short term,” he said. “I’ve got my next appointment in four or five weeks to see what stage I’m at, I’ll get more scans and see how the healing is going. In the meantime it’s about strengthening it, that’s my full focus. I want to achieve everything I can, that’s never changed. I’ve always fought to get back to the very top and get better, there’s never been a glass ceiling to getting back to where I was before, it was can I get back better?
“That’s something I’ll strive to do, I might not achieve it but if you’re striving to be even better then you will not be far away.”
