Craig Gordon revels in Hearts 'feelgood factor' as keeper sets out major targets

Craig Gordon was part of the Hearts team that played in the group stage of the UEFA Cup almost 20 years ago., writes Ross Pilcher in Spain.

Now he’s drawing on his continental experience as the Jambos look to do it again this season. The name may have changed but the prestige and rewards are still there. Robbie Neilson’s side are just 180 minutes away from the same stage of the Europa League. They go into those games in the knowledge they have the safety net of the Europa Conference League if they’re knocked out. That contingency wasn’t there when Hearts faced Braga back in 2004. The Portuguese cracks stood between them and the honour of becoming the first-ever Scottish team to play in the group stage. Gordon was between the sticks at Murrayfield for a 3-1 win before Mark De Vries’ double in the away leg secured a 2-2 draw to get the job done. The reward for Craig Levein’s team was a group containing Feyenoord, Schalke and Ferencvaros.

The Tynecastle team could face a big gun in this season’s play-off round. Given they know they’ll be playing Thursday/Sunday eight times regardless of which competition they end up in, pre-season has all been geared towards coping with a European and domestic schedule. Gordon has been through it all before with Celtic as well and the devil’s been in the detail during this week’s training camp at La Cala in Spain.

Gordon said: “That’s what the coaching staff have been looking to do pre-season – put things in place that are going to come up during the season. The potential is that we could have to go and play somewhere quite warm. Also going back to play two games a week from next week which is what we’ll encounter when we go into Europe, playing and then travelling.

“We’re trying to