Craig Gordon: Incredible finisher Lawrence Shankland will find the net soon

Craig Gordon played a big part in Lawrence Shankland’s only goal this season but the Scotland goalkeeper is sure the striker will rediscover his magic touch on his own soon enough.

The Hearts attacker netted 33 times last season for club and country but only once so far this term.

That goal was a stoppage-time equaliser against Ross County when Gordon was in amongst the action after going up for a corner.

The pair are on international duty together and Gordon is sure Shankland can provide a goal threat when Scotland host Croatia on Friday night in their penultimate game in section A1 of the Nations League.

“Everybody knows what a good goalscorer he is,” Gordon said.

“Sooner or later that will come back. In training, over the last few weeks, he’s giving absolutely everything.

“At times his touch has been really good. He’s been scoring goals in training, but it just hasn’t materialised in matches.

“But I’ve absolutely no doubt whatsoever that he’ll be back scoring goals very soon. He’s too good a player for that to last for any length of time.

“It’s great that he’s here to show that support that he is still that main striker, that go-to guy to get a goal.

“He’s still the one that, especially at Hearts, we turn to, that we rely on for goals. I’m sure they will be back before long.

“I know how great he can be. I’ve seen that day in, day out for the last few years. I just hope that he remembers that and knows how great he actually is.

“When he’s firing and confident then everything he touches turns to goals. He’s such an incredible finisher, in and around the box. If anything lands to him, you just always expect him to put it in the net.

“When that hasn’t happened for a couple of months, then everybody starts talking about it.

“I just hope he remembers how good he is and the feeling that he had over the last couple of years, and how much love that the fans had for him at that point.

“A fantastic player and I’m sure he’ll get back to scoring goals.

“I can’t help him with that too much, although I went up for a corner and took the defenders away, so he got his goal. Maybe I need to get up into the box a bit more and help him out that way.”

Gordon is set to win his 78th cap on Friday after impressing in last month’s goalless draw against Portugal.

The 41-year-old was handed what looked like a farewell cap to take him to 75 against Finland in June after making his comeback from a double leg break but failed to make Steve Clarke’s Euro 2024 squad.

The late substitute appearance did no go to plan but an injury to Angus Gunn and Gordon regaining his position as Hearts number one has catapulted him back into the international fold.

When asked if the ’75’ shirt he was presented with to mark the landmark had been consigned to history, Gordon said: “I still have it.

“I mean, 75 is a great number. We get a medal for 25 and 50. So 75 is quite a big number to aspire to get to.

“It’s still an important one. I probably didn’t foresee how the next few months were going to pan out like this. At that particular time, I thought that probably would be the last one.

“Football is a funny place, you just never know what’s round the corner, what’s going to happen. It’s now about taking this chance to try and stay in the team.”