Hearts star Craig Gordon explains Scotland heroics and David Marshall call

A year to the day that Marshall denied Aleksandar Mitrović to secure passage to the European Championships, Gordon saved Vadim Rata’s spot kick as the team confirmed a World Cup play-off spot with a 2-0 win over Moldova.

It was one of two key saves, having produced an excellent first-half stop from captain Artur Ionita.

Gordon, who is nearing an international record for a Hearts player, revealed he had a chat with Marshall before the match.

“The first one was just a sharp reaction, I managed to get enough on it," he said. “I was lying there hoping it would go over the bar, it seemed to take ages to get up and over the bar but thankfully it landed on the roof of the net.

“Second one, it is the day for Scottish goalies to save penalties.

"It was exactly a year ago today that Marsh saved the one in Serbia so it must be a good omen for Scottish goalies. I spoke to him today about that, it was my turn tonight.”

Gordon is now looking to add to the 20 points picked up from the campaign when Denmark come to Hampden Park on Monday as Scotland look to secure seeding for the play-off.

“We have still got another game and we want to go for more and we will see what happens after that,” he said.

"We are happy with the way the campaign has gone, we put in some good performances.”

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