‘The Scottish Buffon’ – pundits react to Craig Gordon’s Hearts Europa Conference League masterclass against RFS

CRAIG GORDON has been branded “the Scottish Buffon” after his terrific display between the sticks against RFS in the Europa Conference League.

Hearts clinched their first points of their European campaign in Latvia thanks to goals from Lawrence Shankland and Alan Forrest.

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Craig Gordon pulling off a terrific save to deny RFSCredit: SNS

It was a successful night as they won 2-0, with their only disappointment being Craig Halkett’s scare in the first half as he was forced off with an injury and Lewis Neilson came on his place.

But it didn’t affect their result as skipper Gordon saved them on a couple occasions to keep the clean sheet.

And his performance didn’t go unnoticed in the TV studio as he was hailed for his standout showing between the sticks.

Talking about on of his terrific stops, Michael Stewart told BT Sport: “This one is the best and it is so early on and that is the importance of this if you are away from home on the back of what has been a relatively sticky patch.

“The reactions are incredible. 40-years-old almost.

“Sticky run of form, coming away from home and if you go one-nil down inside two minutes you don’t know what could happen.

“It’s hugely important that they have a guy like that as a talisman in the team making saves like that to allow them to gradually grow into the game.

“The two before half-time are standard Craig Gordon.

While Neil McCann added: “It is probably standard for Craig Gordon isn’t it.

“What a signing he has been. He is a huge part. The Scottish Buffon.

“Listen, as Michael said, he is an old fine wine. He’s not going off. He’s maturing all the time and as agile as ever. He’s clearly looking after himself off the pitch.

“Whether he tapers his training I don’t know. I know [Edwin] Van de Sar when he was getting to the latter stages of his career very rarely trained as it was all about getting ready for games.

“I don’t know what he is doing behind the scenes but you don’t care. If he is coming up with that type or performance, big moments in big matches. Craig Gordon has done it time and time again.

“Hearts can be very thankful they have him.”

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