'A dream come true' - Irving makes Scotland debut with childhood pal Doig
Andy Irving says "you couldn't really write" his Scotland debut as he made it at the same time as his childhood friend, Josh Doig.The pair came off the bench as second-half substitutes in Scotland's final game of the season in Liechtenstein.West Ham's Irving and Sassuolo's Doig both attended Newcraighall Primary School and then Portobello High School in Edinburgh and were on the books of Hearts before Doig ended up as a city rival with Hibernian."I loved it. Just over the moon, to be honest, to make my Scotland debut and get my first cap," the midfielder said. £I'm just absolutely delighted."It's just amazing. It's something that you dream of as a kid, playing for your country."Having played throughout the youth groups, I know how proud that made me feel. To make it for the national team, I'm just delighted."Coming on with Doigy was perfect. Literally, mad, just mad. "Our dads are really good mates. They played at Edinburgh City together and stuff like that."I'm two years older but we used to play when we were kids at primary school and whatnot. Growing up, he was at Hearts training with us and whatnot. You couldn't really write it, to be honest."Irving spoke to Doig to mark the moment."'How is this happening? We're both coming on at the same time.' I'm sure for him it's a dream come true, just like mine," he added.
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Scotsman
15 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Hearts goalkeeping issues played down as Craig Gordon discusses a new Scotland opportunity
Season 2025/26 is just around the corner Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Four Hearts goalkeepers are recovering from injury ahead of the new season following a series of fitness issues. First-team members Craig Gordon, Zander Clark and Ryan Fulton have been sidelined alongside reserve keeper Harry Stone. With players reporting to Riccarton for pre-season training next Friday, Gordon played down concerns over the lack of fully-fit goalies. He missed Hearts' last three Premiership games of the 2024/25 campaign as well as Scotland's friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein due to a shoulder problem. Clark had a foot ligament complaint which resurfaced in the final league game at Kilmarnock. Fulton took his place after 22 minutes of that match but then injured his groin. Stone returned from his loan at Ayr United with a knock which precluded him from their last four games of the season. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad New Hearts head coach Derek McInnes and his staff will assess the situation when players arrive back at the club's training ground. Gordon, though, is hopeful he and others will be fit and ready for competitive matches starting on 12 July in the Premier Sports Cup against Dunfermline. 'Just as well we didn't get to the [Scottish] cup final because I don't know who would have played in goal,' joked the 42-year-old. 'Yes, it's not a great place for the goalkeepers at the moment. Luckily enough, we've got a bit of time before the games start up again, so I think we'll all be fine.' Gordon has more reason than most to accelerate a recovery with his testimonial match due on 26 July against former club Sunderland. He has held talks with McInnes and believes the new manager is reinvigorated by the new season's challenge in Gorgie. 'I spoke to him last week. He phoned me from his holidays and he's very excited. He's really motivated to get in and get started,' said the keeper. 'I spoke to a few other players as well and that's the thing that's come through - how excited he is to get in and start getting things in place straight away. I think that's refreshed everybody, that positive mindset that he's put on everybody already. We're going to work hard, we're going to get ready for the season. I think everybody's really looking forward to getting started now.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland keeper issue as Norwich and Ipswich EFL men feature at Hampden Goalkeeping injuries also struck the Scotland camp in Gordon's absence last week. Angus Gunn, who recently left Norwich City, was forced off with an ankle problem just minutes into Friday night's friendly with Iceland. Ipswich Town's Cieran Slicker took his place as substitute for an international debut which won't be fondly remembered. He was at fault for all three Iceland goals in the 3-1 defeat at Hampden Park. 'It's happened now. There's not really too much I can say about that,' admitted Gordon. 'I know he's a confident, strong young boy and this is right at the very beginning of his career. He's got a long time to come back from this and I think he will. He'll go back to his club and work away and try and get more game time. But that's part of his story now and it's now about the comeback. You can make that work for you. I think that's what he has to do now is accept that it's happened, move on and continue trying to improve and get more games. Get back there and have another shot at it.' Gordon intends to contact Slicker for a chat as a long-serving member of the goalkeepers' union. 'I'll probably let him have his holiday first and maybe get away for a little while,' he said. 'As a goalkeeper, you know you're going to make mistakes during a season. You're going to cost the team goals, that's every single goalkeeper for every single club all over the world. If you play a whole season, you're going to lose probably a couple of bad goals that are going to cost your team. You have to accept that. 'You have to accept that as part of playing the position that you are going to be the reason your team doesn't win from time to time. That's just the nature of it. You have to move past that, accept that that is the case and not be scared of it. Still do the right things, still make the decisions. That's the only way to move on from it. It's that acceptance that's going to happen. It wasn't great, but we move on. We try not to do the same thing again.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Slicker, 22, found himself thrust into the international fold despite playing just seven competitive games in his career to date. The situation highlighted the dearth of emerging Scottish keepers playing at the top level for national coach Steve Clarke to select. Aberdeen's second-choice, Ross Doohan, was then called up to face Liechtenstein. Gordon watched the games and acknowledged that the international goalkeeping spots are currently up for grabs. 'I think the opportunity is there right now for the next batch of goalkeepers to come through,' he stated. 'There's a few of them that have been out on loan, been down in the lower leagues and done quite well. It's about their progression now and getting that right and making sure they're still developing. Still getting games, but also still working on everything else they need to work on. I think this is the opportunity at this moment in time to focus on that, to concentrate and make sure we are getting the goalkeepers the right pathway to get them through.' Craig Gordon's future decided with new Hearts contract One of his long-term career ambitions is to become a goalkeeping coach and help nurture a new generation of top quality Scottish No.1s. 'Yeah, I think that's something that I would like to do,' said Gordon. 'That's an area that we need to look at and I need to try and improve. We need to bring through more goalkeepers. I don't know why that hasn't really happened, really, over a number of years. We have had good goalkeepers and guys that have played in the leagues for a lot of years. 'I think, obviously, the international team was quite a closed shop for such a long period of time. Perhaps the exposure to that wasn't there and maybe that was the reason why. But that's not the case anymore. So, hopefully we can get people in and even exposed to that level of training. Because when you go and train with the Scotland team, the level is so much quicker than what it is when you train at club level. Especially from the Scottish teams to the international team. You've got guys playing in the top leagues in the world. You notice a difference in the speed of the game. So, if we can push more goalkeepers towards that and give them that experience, then that will improve them as well.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Coaching is for the future, though. Gordon will remain purely a player for season 2025/26 after agreeing to extend his Hearts contract by another 12 months. A hectic first half of the season made him wonder if he wanted to continue, but a more regular schedule from Christmas onwards helped finalise the decision in his mind. 'It was right towards the end of the season. When things went down to one game a week, I felt better,' he explained. 'In the second part of the season, I actually felt myself getting stronger. That was the reason I felt that I could probably still do another year. The European games coming thick and fast in the middle of the first part of the season was difficult. Coming back from my leg break, that was the first time I'd played a stretch of games in a row. I think it always takes quite a while to actually get back to the level you were before. I felt towards the end of the season that I could start to feel that I was getting even stronger. So, that was why I thought I could still go another year and go better again.' • Tickets for the Craig Gordon Testimonial Match – Hearts v Sunderland, Tynecastle Park, 3pm, Saturday 26th July – are on sale now through Supporters can keep up to date with all of the latest Craig Gordon Testimonial information at
Scotsman
23 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Craig Gordon lays down Scotland plan as he talks Cieran Slicker and why he's carrying on
Goalkeeper will offer advice to rookie as he plots another year with club and country Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... We never stop. It was a phrase coined by Ange Postecoglou during his time as Celtic manager, but it could just as easily refer to Hearts' never-ending goalkeeper Craig Gordon. You probably know it off by heart these days. Gordon, at the ripe old age of 42, is carrying on for another year and hopes to be part of the Scotland team playing at the World Cup next summer. He's the man who has bounced back from broken arms and legs, plus a near career-ending knee injury. Egypt have Essam El-Hadary, Italy have Gianluigi Buffon and we have Craig Gordon when it comes to legendary keepers playing well into their 40s. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Even when off the pitch, Gordon becomes more and more important. Scotland's current goalkeeper crisis manifested itself last week when the experienced stopper was one of a few internationalists who were sidelined by injury. When Angus Gunn picked up an ankle issue just minutes into the 3-1 defeat by Iceland, the cupboard was so bare that 22-year-old Cieran Slicker - without a senior appearance - was given his debut. It went badly, at fault for all three goals. Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon promotes his testimonial next month against Sunderland. | SNS Group On a family break, Gordon tuned in on TV. He is recovering well from the knock that curtailed his season early and is ready to step back into the breach again, for club and country. He should be between the sticks when he faces one of his former clubs Sunderland in his testimonial match on Saturday, July 26, ahead of what could be an exciting season under a new Hearts boss Derek McInnes. There was sympathy for Slicker. "It's happened now,' says Gordon, holding a press conference to promote his testimonial. 'I know he's a confident, strong young boy and this is right at the very beginning of his career. He's got a long time to come back from this and I think he will. He'll go back to his club and work away and try and get more game time. But that's part of his story now and it's now about the comeback. You can make that work for you. I think that's what he has to do now is accept that that's happened and move on and continue trying to improve and get more games and get back there and have another shot at it.' Gordon admits he has been in Slicker's shoes himself, when a keeper endures the lonely walk off a pitch knowing his mistakes have cost the team. 'I'll probably let him have his holiday first and maybe get away for a little while,' says Gordon of having a chat with a man who is 20 years younger than him. 'As a goalkeeper, you know you're going to make mistakes during a season. You're going to cost the team goals, every single goalkeeper for every single club all over the world. If you play a whole season, you're going to lose probably a couple of bad goals that it's going to cost your team. You have to accept that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Goalkeepers 'have to accept mistakes' 'You have to accept that as part of playing the position that you are going to be the reason that your team doesn't win from time to time. That's just the nature of it. You have to move past that, accept that that is the case and not be scared of it. To still do the right things, to still make the decisions. That's the only way to move on from it. It's that acceptance that's going to happen. It wasn't great, but we move on. We try and not do the same thing again.' Gordon is the master of recovering from adversity. He was steeled for life in the professional game by a formative loan spell at Cowdenbeath - 'I didn't know if I was going to be able to cope with that at 18,' he admits - and has gone on to win trophies at Hearts and Celtic, plus star in the Premier League in England with Sunderland. He has 81 caps to his name - and the plan is to clock up more. "If I'm still training well and playing well here and getting games here [at Hearts], then I'll be available until I can't play any more,' says Gordon. Would playing at the World Cup be the pinnacle for Gordon? "It would,' he replies, without a moment's hesitation. 'There's a lot of football we've played before that. A full season here and probably win five out of six games at international level. It's going to be tough, but it's possible. That's what you go out every week, you go out trying to be the best you can be. If we can be that at Scotland, if we can get a few of the guys coming back that have been injured and get the best possible squad available, then we can give everybody a game. With it being such a short group, if we hit form then we can give ourselves a chance.' Gordon is asked how long he can go for. "Who knows?' is the response. 'I don't know that question. If you'd asked me halfway through last season, I probably might have thought that was going to be my last. Then I get to the end of the season and think I can probably go again. I think it will be another season like that where I'll do as much as I possibly can for as long as I possibly can and then see what happens.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Retirement was a real possibility even just a few months ago. 'It was right towards the end of the season,' Gordon explains on when he decided to carry on. 'When things went down to one game a week, I felt better. In the second part of the season, I actually felt myself getting stronger. That was the reason I felt that I could probably still do another year. 'The European games coming thick and fast in the middle of the first part of the season was difficult. Coming back from my leg break, that was the first time I'd played a stretch of games in a row. I think it always takes quite a while to actually get back to the level you were before. I felt towards the end of the season that I could start to feel that I was getting even stronger. So, that was why I thought I could still go another year.' Craig Gordon hopes to be back in action with Scotland. | SNS Group Gordon could be forgiven for being, well, more forgiving on his ageing limbs. Does he give himself more downtime than before? "I don't train every single day, but I do keep going,' he says. '[During pre-season] I've still been in at Hearts three days a week and I still do stuff myself at home to make sure that I'm still ready for when the next time we're training. I'm not sure many people now totally stop for any length of time. If you stop and the other guys are not stopping, then they're going to have the edge on you. It's maybe not as intense as what it would be in a pre-season or during a season, but certainly ticking over and making sure you're doing enough and being ready for the pre-season is the norm now, I think.' Club and country will be grateful for that. There is every chance that Gordon will be No 1 for Hearts at the start of the season and also for Scotland in their first World Cup qualifier against Denmark in September. Still so much life in the old dog yet. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Wright swaps Saints for 'good fit' Dark Blues
Dundee have become Drey Wright's third Scottish Premiership club, with the English utility man saying Dens Park felt "a good fit for me" after leaving relegated St 30-year-old, who played in defence, midfield and the wing during his time in Perth, has signed a two-year becomes new head coach Steven Pressley's second signing of the day following the arrival of compatriot Paul Digby following his exit from Cambridge told Dundee's website: "I'm excited about the direction the club is going."Having started his career with Colchester United, the Londoner began the first of two spells with St Johnstone in 2018 and then had two seasons with Hibernian before returning to season, he made 38 appearances, all but one as a starter, as Saints finished bottom of the midfielder Charlie Reilly has signed a new one-year contract with Dundee despite being restricted to eight substitute appearances last arriving from Albion Rovers in June 2023, the 23-year-old Scot has had loan spells to Arbroath and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, for whom he only managed one appearance at the start of the last told the club website: "The past two years haven't gone the way I wanted in terms of injuries and game time, but hopefully this year I can show the best of me."
