Craig Gordon eyes cup success with Hearts after awards nomination

Craig Gordon has reflected on an enjoyable season with Hearts after being nominated for PFA Player of the Year – and wants to cap it off by lifting the Scottish Cup.

Gordon’s form over the last year has seen him named on the four-man shortlist for the award along with Ross County’s Regan Charles-Cook and Celtic duo Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor.

The goalkeeper was named as Young Player of the Year early in his career, and is a two-time winner of the football writers’ award but has never won the PFA prize. He said it was great to be named alongside “a great standard of players” this year.

With Hearts having secured third place in the league, group stage football in Europe, and a Scottish Cup final date against Rangers, it’s been a rewarding season at Tynecastle and Gordon has been an important part of it. Aked why the season had been so good for the club and him personally, he said: “I think they’re quite closely linked.

“The team’s been doing well. Personally, I’ve been on a good run of form, making a good amount of saves.

“The fact that the team’s gone on to win games because of that I think that then highlights the job that I’ve been doing, so that’s a lot of credit to the guys in front of me for going on and winning the games and making those saves worth something.

“It’s a real team effort. It shows that the club as a whole, and our team, has done very well this season.”

The Scotland international said that while it had been one of the best seasons in his long career, success at Hampden in May would put it above many others.

“It’s been very good so far, we’ve got a few games to go,” he said. “If we can keep the momentum going and lift a trophy then I don’t think there will be much better than that in terms of personally the way I’ve been playing and also the achievement for the team.

“The season has gone very well, I’d love it to go even better.

“I’ve managed to [win the cup] once before, to do it twice, there’s not many people that have done it twice. And to do it as captain it would be very special.

“We’ve got a few games to go before that but that is definitely something that we’re all looking forward to. We’ll try and get there in the best possible shape and give it our best shot.”

The Hearts captain believes that one of the key factors in the team’s success is that it has been a collective effort and he thinks that can stand them in good stead for the challenges to come.

“It’s a real good group, good atmosphere,” he said. “Everybody enjoys being together and working hard. I think that’s a big part of the successes that we’ve had this season.

“We’ve really stuck together. It’s a real good dressing room, one of the best I’ve been involved in. Hopefully that can carry us even further this season and into next.

“When someone makes a mistake, someone will help them out. That togetherness has got us this far and hopefully it can continue for the rest of the season.

“We’re going to need all of that to go our way to hopefully get our hands on a trophy at the end of the season.”