Under the greatest pressure of his Celtic career Craig Gordon produced an outstanding display against Manchester City to re-establish himself as the hoops number one keeper.
The 35-year-old had sat out five matches following the 2-0 defeat from Hapoel Beer Sheva as Brendan Rodgers introduced Dorus de Vries to his side.
A 45 minute appearance in a 6-1 romp over Kilmarnock and a spectators role in the 2-0 win over Alloa hardly prepared Gordon for the might of Manchester City but last night he excelled.
Keepers prefer to look back on clean sheets as an indicator of how they performed but late in the game Gordon pulled off two outstanding saves as City pushed for a winner.
Just a week on from facing Alloa he admitted: “I’m happy I finally got the chance to play in the Champions League.
“It has been a long time coming for me and I feared I might not get a chance a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been working as hard as possible in training to improve and do the things I’m expected to do.
“If I can keep the standards of my own game high and continue to do what I’ve done for the last ten to 15 years, then I’ll give myself a good chance to stay in the team.
“It was everything I hoped it would be. Incredible from the moment I walked out and the music started.
“You stand there and that’s when you realise it’s for real. I wasn’t nervous about it. I was excited to get out there and give it a shot.
“We knew we were up against a top-quality team and I knew I would probably have to make saves at some point during the game.
“Most of them came later on but when you’re facing that kind of strike-force you know you are going to have to come up with something.
“Thankfully we came up with enough to get a point. It’s always good to contribute when you get a result. Sometimes you can make three or four good saves still get beaten and no-one remembers that.
“So to do that, have a few saves and get the point, everyone is very happy, especially the supporters. We take confidence from that and to be a part of it is a big plus for me.
Explaining the unique goalkeeping rivalry he added: ““It’s been a tough time but I was training pretty well and I was in pretty good form, even when Dorus was playing.
“I tried to put him under as much pressure as I could. We get on great and we support each other but, at the same time, I wanted to train as best I could so the manager knew I hadn’t given up the fight and still wanted to play.
“It’s a strange situation when a new goalkeeper comes in. It doesn’t look good and adds a wee bit of extra pressure so that’s a hard thing to deal with. It’s turned around over the past week and now it’s up to me to ensure I keep contributing to this team.”
