Craig Gordon gunning for Alan Rough’s caps total

Craig Gordon has set his sights on overhauling Alan Rough in Scotland’s all-time caps list as he looks to extend his return to being the country’s No 1 goalkeeper.

The 34-year-old was formally welcomed to Scottish international football’s ‘50 club’ this week when he received a commemorative gold medal in recognition of the feat which he achieved when he played in last month’s win over Slovakia at Hampden.

Aberdeen and Scotland 
legend Willie Miller, one of the other 30 players who has reached or surpassed the 50-cap milestone in the 145-year history of the national team, made the presentation to Gordon before Thursday night’s friendly defeat against Netherlands at Pittodrie.

Now on the 52-cap mark, Gordon is closing in on former Partick Thistle and Hibs keeper Rough who made 53 appearances for his country.

“It was an honour to reach 50 caps for my country as not many people do it,” reflected Gordon.

“I’m only the third goalkeeper to do it. I’m only one behind Alan Rough now, so I’m gunning for him. I have two more to get second place on my own in terms of Scotland ‘keepers, although I’m still a long way behind Jim Leighton’s 91 caps.

“I didn’t know the presentation was happening this week. I knew at some point I would get the medal for reaching 50 caps. It was nice to get that from Willie, especially in Aberdeen. He made a little speech and it was an absolute honour to receive it from someone like him.”

After the disappointing end to the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, Gordon saw encouraging signs in the performance against the Dutch as Scotland look ahead to trying to reach the 2020 European Championship finals.

He was especially impressed by the contributions of two of his Celtic club mates – Kieran Tierney, who played out of position in central defence and captained his country at the age of 20, and midfielder Callum McGregor who enjoyed a good debut.

“I was looking across the squad beforehand and going through the potential captains in my head and Kieran was one of the top ones on my list,” added Gordon.

“He has done it at Celtic and I’m sure there will be a lot more occasions when he is captain of his club and his country. He has always had the potential to be a captain. He is a leader, he leads by example and he is good in the changing room as well. He has such a strong character.

“I don’t really know what his best position is because he can do anything. I want to give him a shot of the gloves and see if he can do that as well!

“I’m sure he could because every position he plays he does exceptionally well. He is just a terrific footballer.”

Gordon added: “In the forward areas we went at them and caused them a few problems. There were good performances all round, although I know from Celtic how good Callum can be.

“He can pull the strings with both his passing and his finishing. He was always going to be a good player to come into this squad.”