CRAIG Gordon has backed Zander Clark to cope with the step up to international football if the Hearts keeper is given the nod to replace him in the Scotland team next month.
Gordon was ruled out of the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Cyprus and Spain at Hampden by the double leg break which he suffered against Dundee United at Tannadice on Christmas Eve.
National team manager Steve Clarke has been tipped to call up Angus Gunn of Norwich City for the opening Group A double header in March.
Liam Kelly of Motherwell and Jon McLaughlin of Rangers have also been involved in the Scotland set-up in the past and the latter has won two caps.
But Gordon has been impressed with how former St Johnstone keeper Clark has performed for the Tynecastle club since he suffered his injury and believes his understudy can excel for his country too.
“I knew Zander would go in there and do well,” he said at Waverley Station in Edinburgh yesterday at an event to promote online travel agent loveholidays becoming Hearts official holiday partner.
“It’s been no surprise he has gone in and made some saves that have been important for the team. He’s put himself in a good position. There are not too many Scottish goalkeepers who are playing week in, week out.
“For him to be able to do that now is good. He has been in the squad before so the manager knows what he can do.
“I think it will be an interesting time to see what happens there. I am disappointed from my own point of view not to go and get another cap.
“But for the guys who are fighting for the jersey it is there for them to grasp and get the nod for the next game.”
Gordon added: “Zander’s played in European football with St Johnstone, which is a step up. So he has tasted different levels of football in his career, he has played a lot of games now. He’s 31-years-old, he knows the game.
“It is a step up and I am sure for whoever is called upon it will be a big moment in their career. But that excitement and adrenaline is always a good thing going into a big game like that.”
Clark’s inspired form for Hearts, who are in third place in the cinch Premiership table as well as the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, has come as no great surprise to Gordon.
“I had trained with him before he came to the club and I knew what Hearts were getting,” he said. “He is doing exactly what he was doing at St Johnstone. He was very solid there for a number of years.
“I knew exactly what he was good at. He’s continued that. People may think it’s a step up coming from St Johnstone to Hearts, but he’s still in the same league and doing a similar job to what he did there.
“He’s carried that on and playing in a team that are fighting at the other end of the league very well.”
