Gordon rejects loan move in hope of extending deal

SCOTLAND goalkeeper Craig Gordon has rejected the chance to go on loan as he still hopes to win a new deal at Sunderland.

The 29-year-old is out of contract at the Stadium of Light club at the end of the season and hasn’t played a minute of first-team football for almost 14 months since suffering knee injuries. But the former Hearts player has opted to stay with the Black Cats, rather than go on loan to a Championship club because he wants to prove to Martin O’Neill that he’s good enough for a new contract.

O’Neill said: “There was a club interested in taking him out on loan. I thought about it because it might have been an opportunity for him to play a couple of games to give us a better idea of his fitness. But I was concerned about it as well because Keiren Westwood has been out with a wrist injury and that could have left us in a delicate position.

“I left it up to him and he chose to stay and continue his rehabilitation here, so that’s where we have left it. The main thing is that, by the end of the season, he is fully fit.

Meanwhile, O’Neill’s focus is firmly on tonight’s FA Cup quarter-final replay with Everton at the Stadium of Light.

Skipper Lee Cattermole returns to the squad from suspension. He has missed the last four games after collecting a two-game ban for reaching ten bookings for the season and then two more for his dismissal after the final whistle in the 1-1 derby draw with Newcastle.