Craig Gordon will be Scotland No.1 again insists Liam Kelly as Motherwell keeper shrugs off 'changing of the guard'

Liam Kelly knows he faces a three-way shoot-out to become Scotland No.1 now that Angus Gunn has joined up with Steve Clarke’s squad.

But the Motherwell keeper won’t be surprised to see Craig Gordon firing himself back into cap contention once the Hearts veteran recovers from his leg-break hell. Clarke has succeeded in finding a high-calibre replacement for the crocked 40-year-old having persuaded former England Under-21 stopper Gunn to switch allegiances.

The Norwich ace will now have to fight it out with Kelly and Gordon’s Tynecastle understudy Zander Clark to get the jersey for this week’s Euro 2020 qualifiers with Cyprus and Spain. But Kelly isn’t prepared to rule out Gordon from rejoining the glove duel after being stunned by the swift progress his rival has made since his horrific Boxing Day collision with Dundee United’s Steven Fletcher.

Asked if Gunn’s arrival signalled a changing of the guard for Scotland’s goalkeeping slot, the Fir Park skipper said: “I understand your question but I wouldn’t be ruling Craig Gordon out yet.

“There’s an opportunity now because Craig is injured. It’s an opportunity to show what you can do and then we’ll see what the manager does. But I’m not sure about a changing of the guard. I think there’s still plenty of life left in Craig Gordon yet.

“It’s quite frightening how you see him move in training, to be honest. For his age he’s unbelievable. Him and Allan McGregor are probably the two best goalies I’ve worked with. That won’t change.”

Clarke insisted last week that he’s not yet made his mind up on who his new No.1 is, with the starting slot in goal still up for grabs. Kelly is aware he likely did not do his chances of impressing the national team boss much good when he failed to