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Scotland stopper Craig Gordon 'was struggling' with virus during Poland win
Scotland keeper Craig Gordon revealed his participation in the memorable win in Warsaw was in major doubt right up until moments before kick-off as he was struggling with a virus.
Gordon felt the virus coming on the day after he kept his second international clean sheet in succession as Scotland beat Croatia 1-0 at Hampden on Friday night. The Hearts stopper travelled on Sunday with the rest of the squad in the hope of recovering in time for Monday’s game — but was still badly affected as he warmed up.
With the uncapped Robby McCrorie of Kilmarnock and Cieran Slicker of Ipswich as understudies, the 41-year-old found the strength and resilience to play and produced yet another impressive performance to help Scotland to a 2-1 victory which saw them jump above Poland into third place in Nations League A1. As his team-mates revelled in skipper Andy Robertson’s late bulleted header to win the game, a weary Gordon stated he was “looking forward to getting back to my bed” as he made his way to the team bus.
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“I was struggling,” he said. “Even in the warm-up, I struggled. But once I came back in from the warm-up, I decided then to give it a go to make sure I was out there.
“It was a struggle, but I managed to get through it. I wasn’t great. It wasn’t a good feeling. But I managed to get through it. I don’t really know how. I think once you get out there, instinct just takes over and you play the game.”
Scotland fans were none the wiser about Gordon’s health issues as he made a series of excellent saves to keep Poland at bay.
The former Sunderland and Celtic player was eventually beaten by a sensational strike into the top corner just prior to the hour mark, which a few keepers in the net still wouldn't have got a glove on. Poland remained relentless but Scotland rallied and got back on top as Robertson produced the key moment.
Gordon said: “The first half, we were trying to stay in the game when things were difficult for us. We had to get through a tricky period. But we managed to do that as a collective, everybody making blocks or saves and keeping them out. It was important for us to get through that.
“The second half, not so much. Obviously, with Poland only needing a draw, I think they tried to look after that a bit more rather than going for the second. That played into our hands.
“I’ll see if I can still be here in March at 42 to have another couple of games and hopefully try and stay there as well,” he said.
“As long as I can keep my body in good shape, then I’ll give myself that opportunity to play.
“I’d love to try and still be part of it. There’s a lot of hard work to be done between now and then to stay at this level and make sure that I’m fit enough to be able to do that.”
