Gordon pours cold water on dive claim

PERHAPS there is something in the water at Heriot-Watt University's Riccarton campus which leads to a loosening of the tongue. If so, Steven Pressley, the former Hearts club captain, must have imbibed gallons of the stuff prior to his public stand against owner Vladimir Romanov in October.

Craig Gordon, Pressley's successor as captain, has clearly had his head under the same tap. The Lithuanian autocrat was just about the only subject the Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper did not hold court on yesterday afternoon. Everything else, from diving to media manipulation and swatting Rangers in their own back-yard, got a thorough airing.

Hearts are due at Ibrox this afternoon for the proverbial six-pointer', but it was the fall-out from the events of last Saturday against Falkirk which dominated proceedings inside the congested media room at Riccarton. A war of words has raged this week following the sending-off of Falkirk defender Darren Barr last weekend for an alleged headbutt on Andrius Velicka, the Hearts striker.

Barr and John Hughes, the Falkirk manager, claimed Velicka had gone down theatrically when confronted by the defender, while the Kilmarnock assistant manager, Billy Brown, described the striker's behaviour as "disgusting" in his newspaper column. Barr had his red card reduced to a yellow yesterday by the Scottish Football Association. Gordon admitted that a yellow was "probably fair", but strongly denied claims that his team-mate was a diver.

"I think everyone has been focusing on Andrius and saying that he chucks himself about the place, but Hearts have only had one penalty this year," argued Gordon. "I think if our strikers had been chucking themselves down all the time then we would have had an awful lot more than that.

"The criticism which has been levelled at him has been harsh. He enjoys a physical battle, he's quite a physical striker and when you look at the games he's played in, I don't think diving is something you could accuse him of. I know he's not happy, but he can go out and stick one in the net today and shut everyone up."

Gordon also claimed that the criticism aimed at Velicka, and the Hearts players in general, was simply their opponents indulging in a spot of media manipulation. "I know people are saying that Hearts are a team that dive about the place but I think that's a little bit of gamesmanship," he added. "If you put a lot of that in the media then the referees will be aware of it.

"If they are taking charge of a team who are going to be diving then that will be in their heads. That's possibly what other people are trying to do with us."

Gordon believes the increasingly high stakes involved in modern football has bred a culture of simulation among players, both home-based and foreign.

"If they think that diving will win their team the game then there's a lot of players from every country, even Scotland, who will do it.

"There are players who, when they are going through on the goalie, will nick it past them and go down very easily. They get penalties for it. Whether or not it was enough to take a player down doesn't seem to matter anymore.

"It's something that happens all over world football and it definitely happens in the SPL every week. I don't think you can eradicate it. If it is the difference between winning leagues and cups then players are going to do it."

Five wins in their last seven matches have delivered a much-needed fillip to a campaign which looked to be descending into mid-table mediocrity. The third-placed Tynecastle club arrive at Ibrox today attempting to reduce the gap between themselves and Rangers to two points and reignite the chase for the second Champions League place.

"The days of travelling west and looking to defend in order to get a point are well and truly gone," asserted Gordon.

"We'll be going there to try and get the three points. I have won there before, but it is not an easy place to go.

"We've been playing fairly well recently and we're looking to peg back Rangers. It looked at one stage as if we would be languishing in the middle of the table for the rest of the season but we have got our act together and came out the other side stronger."

The Scotland No.1 also welcomed the appointment of Alex McLeish as the new manager of the national team. "Hopefully we can continue to do what we have been doing. I don't know a great deal about him as a manager, I've never played under him, but I think it is a good appointment. You can't argue with his record. He's done a fantastic job in Scottish football with a number of different teams. I think it will be a good appointment and I look forward to starting to work with him."

Taken from the Herald