Gordon eyes united Scotland

Gordon: Wants united front

Related links

Teams

• Scotland

Players

• Craig Gordon

Also see

• Sky Sports experts
• Fantasy Football
• Sky Sports Twitter
• £20 Free Bet

Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon is hoping the national team can pull together after recent off-field setbacks.

Gordon played between the sticks during the 1-0 win against the Czech Republic on Wednesday, in what was Craig Levein's first game in charge.

Rangers striker Kris Boyd received a rousing reception when he was brought on in the second-half following a self-imposed international exile - being one of four players out of the picture under former manager George Burley.

Lee McCulloch and Allan McGregor are expected to return for the Scots while boss Levein is optimistic of persuading McGregor's partner in the 'boozegate' scandal, Barry Ferguson, to make a comeback.

And despite previous dissent, Gordon says the future looks bright for Scotland.

"Hopefully that's it out the way now and we can all focus on pulling in the same direction and heading into these qualifying games all united and trying to get into a finals, which we have not done for such a long time," he said.

"I hope that's all over and done with now, he's back in and things will just get back to normal."

Beneficial

The Sunderland keeper was particularly pleased to see the return of Boyd, whose ability he believes will greatly benefit the team.

"He's always likely to score a goal for however long he is on the pitch," he added.

"Whether he is coming on as a substitute late on in games, he's always liable to nick a goal.

"I think he is going to be very important for us, he's the top goalscorer in the SPL again this year.

"There are not many people to touch him in Scotland for goalscoring. So to have him in and have that threat, whether from the start or off the bench, is going to be vital."

Scotland, who will play Sweden in a friendly game in August, produced a solid display to see off the Czechs, and Gordon was happy with the performance.

He remarked: "From a defensive point of view everything went quite well - obviously a clean sheet is a big bonus and it's a good base to start from.

"It gets the monkey off our back because we haven't won a friendly here for so long.

"It's a good start, we've done everything asked of us so far but it's a work in progress."