Craig Gordon Expresses Confidence in Lawrence Shankland’s Return to Goalscoring Form

Hearts players Craig Gordon and Lawrence Shankland have both been included in the Scotland national squad for the forthcoming matches against Croatia and Poland. Craig Gordon, a teammate at both Hearts and Scotland, has voiced his certainty that Lawrence Shankland will promptly regain his prolific goalscoring ability. Shankland, a 29-year-old striker, has scored only one goal for the Edinburgh club in 18 appearances this season, a stark contrast to the 59 goals he accumulated during his initial two years at Tynecastle. Notwithstanding this current lack of goals, he has been selected by Steve Clarke for Scotland’s forthcoming Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Portugal. Gordon, the goalkeeper, who is anticipated to be in the starting lineup for the two upcoming matches due to Angus Gunn’s continued injury absence, commented on Shankland: “Everybody knows what a good goalscorer he is and sooner rather than later that will come back.” He added, “I have been training with him over the last few weeks and I can see in training he is giving absolutely everything. At times his touch has been really good and he has been scoring goals in training.” Gordon further stated, “It just hasn’t materialised in matches but I have absolutely no doubt he will be back scoring goals very soon. He is too good a player for that to last for any length of time.” Concluding his remarks, he said, “It’s great that he is here and I am sure the goals will be back before too long.” John Carver, Scotland’s assistant coach, also expressed his complete confidence in the 29-year-old player. Carver remarked, “When you’re a good player and you’re a goalscorer, eventually that barren spell happens.” He continued, “We all know what he’s about. He’s a goalscorer, he gets between the posts, he plays inside the 18-yard box. If he has to play for us or start or come on, that’s what we want him to do and we’ll encourage him to do that.” Carver also noted, “The good thing is, he’s actually getting into those positions to actually try and score goals. It’s just not coming off for him now, where it did last season and the season before that. “So, everybody’s in full support of Lawrence. We love him to bits and the players around him understand it.”