Hearts at crossroads in bid to end 35-year wait as Craig Gordon goes where Tynecastle CEO refused
It’s no good speaking to Craig Gordon when seeking to illustrate how long it’s been since Hearts played in Europe after Christmas.
Someone like Lawrence Shankland might have been better for pre-match press duties, since it would mean being able to note that the 29-year-old striker wasn’t even born the last time the Tynecastle side made it that far. Gordon, however, vaguely remembers when Iain Ferguson lashed home from almost 30 yards against Bayern Munich in the first leg of a Uefa Cup quarter-final tie. Hearts eventually lost 2-1 on aggregate.
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Hide AdBorn in 1982, Gordon was six-years-old on the last day of February in 1989, when Ferguson scored his famous winner at Tynecastle. “I remember my dad talking about it….I've never heard the end of that goal ever since,” he said. “Whenever there's a family gathering he always describes the goal and it gets better and better every time. I've seen it since and it's probably not as good as he describes it! But that's what a European game can bring to the fans, that moment of magic that lives on for years.”


About to turn 42, some would say Gordon is too old for all the stress invariably involved when Hearts play a football match these days. He should be sitting with his feet up somewhere not listening to the anger broiling behind him in places like Bruges and, most recently, Kilmarnock, when the Tynecastle side fell to a 1-0 defeat against the ten-men hosts to spark understandable outrage among the travelling fans. Gordon could not make out exactly what was being said. He knew none of the players were being hailed, put it that way, and neither did they deserve to be.
“You can tell that they’re not happy,” he said with reference to the supporters. “You can't blame a single one of them for being unhappy. It was a difficult watch for everyone.”
That result has, Gordon conceded, left Hearts in a desperate situation, one he accepts must be addressed head on. Although chief executive Andrew McKinlay, speaking after the club agm only two weeks ago, told reporters he was not even using the r word - “I am confident we will finish in the top six,” he said – Gordon acknowledged Hearts are now firmly in a relegation battle.
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Hide Ad“We are because that's where we are,” he said. “There's no getting away from that. We wouldn't be in this position if we'd got the points on the board that we feel we should have done, but we haven't. We can't call it anything else.”


He did point out that everyone from fourth place down is probably looking over their shoulder. Unfortunately for Hearts, there’s no one over their shoulder right now. “At this moment in time, it's us that's at the bottom and we need to change that,” he said.
Although they have no relegation worries in the Conference League, Thursday’s clash against the unfancied Moldovan side Petrocub is still fraught with tension. The hosts need a win to qualify for the knockout phase play-off round, which would secure the boost - to both finances and morale - of European involvement past Christmas. A draw would leave Hearts requiring favours elsewhere while defeat doesn't bear thinking about.
Manager Neil Critchley said he and his staff started looking at the various permutations yesterday and then gave up after five minutes. “We thought, 'let's just concentrate on doing our best to win',” he said.
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Hide AdIt is a cup final. One Hearts should be winning, but still a cup final. As is well established, such occasions can do all sorts of funny things to favourites. The underdog often feast on knowing little is expected of them and crash the party. Petrocub, who are already eliminated, fit the bill of potentially unruly guests.
Andrei Martin's unheralded squad arrived in Edinburgh yesterday having held their post-match press conference in Moldova and with no plans to train on the Tynecastle pitch. They know they have nothing to lose. They can come and enjoy themselves. Hearts, not so much.


“I don't think it's going to be one where we're going to score loads of goals and have a comfortable evening,” pondered Gordon. “It's going to be something we're really going to have to work for and rely on everybody....Subs coming off the bench, it'll need to be a full team performance to make sure we get the result.
"I’m not expecting it to be easy," he added. "There will be difficult moments in the match. We're going to have to find a way to come through them and win it.”
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Hide AdThe veteran goalkeeper can't be too glum about life at the moment, even given Hearts' predicament. He is preparing to appear in arguably the club's biggest European tie since a Europa League qualifier against Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool in 2012. Some take it further back to the Champions League qualifying tie against AEK Athens in 2006, which Gordon played in.
Before his birthday on 31 December, the goalkeeper can play a big part in making some more history as well as help steer the team away from immediate danger in the league. In addition to the European tie, Hearts have successive home games against St Johnstone and Hibs.
Gordon can look back on a year where he’s recovered from serious injury to win back his place at both club and international level. There is everything to play for and he is relishing the challenge, starting on Thursday night.
“It's a fantastic game to be involved in,” Gordon stressed. “To have the ability to get through to the next round of a European competition. We've got to see this as an exciting opportunity to get out there, have a go, get after the game and go and make things happen. Be the hero. Be the person that scores that goal, that makes that crucial tackle to get everybody else going and start heading in the right direction. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to start that in motion.”
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