Craig Gordon hopes he and Robbie Neilson can enjoy another Scottish Cup moment

Craig Gordon is hoping he and manager Robbie Neilson can enjoy another special Scottish Cup moment 16 years on from the last time they won the tournament together.

The pair were team-mates in their early-to-mid-20s when the Jambos defeated Gretna on penalties in the 2006 final.

Now Gordon, 39, is captain and Neilson, 41, is manager as Hearts attempt to topple Rangers in Saturday’s showpiece match at Hampden.

“It would be special to do it again together,” said Gordon. “Robbie would be the first player and manager to win the cup with Hearts and for me personally to win two Scottish Cups, there’s not many people who have done that at Hearts.

“That would be fantastic for both of us and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Reflecting on their days as Hearts team-mates together in the noughties, Gordon said: “Robbie’s a couple of years older than me. He won the Youth Cup just before I got to Hearts and he was in the first team a little bit before me.

“He was a hard-working player who never really said too much in the changing room, a bit like myself really. We were both fairly quiet.

“As he progressed, you could see his work ethic and how he thought about the game would suit well for management.”

Neilson and Gordon both returned to Hearts at the start of the 2020/21 season following their relegation to the Championship.

The Jambos have already finished third in the Premiership this term and the Scotland goalkeeper believes Scottish Cup glory would be a fitting reward for Neilson.

“Robbie’s done a tremendous job to stabilise everything and really push the standards of this club forward again and getting us back to where we should be,” said Gordon.

“He’s done it so quickly so he deserves huge credit for the turnaround we’ve had.