DISNEY GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS

Scotland's Cinderella Man has the chance to enjoy a Hollywood ending if he helps steer us to America

- BY KEITH JACKSON

IT'S got Hollywood stardust sprinkled all over it.

Craig Gordon, Scottish football's very own Cinderella Man, could be on the verge of the most astonishing climax of a career which spans almost a quarter of a century.

Just a month or so short of his 43rd birthday the chances are Gordon will be back in Scotland's goal in Athens in less than a fortnight, when Steve Clarke will attempt to avoid defeat against the Greeks and keep his side on course to walk straight into next summer's World Cup.

A single point will be enough to ensure a dramatic final night shootout against Denmark at Hampden just a few days later.

And it seems more than likely that Gordon will be back in the firing line for that one too, with history in the palm of his hands. It is fairytale stuff for a keeper who can no longer get a game for his club, at a time when Hearts are nine points clear at the summit of the Premiership and attempting to pull off a sporting miracle of their own.

And it all comes just over a year since Clarke had to turn the keeper's world upside down by leaving him at home when Scotland went off to the Euros in Germany - a decision with which the manager is still grappling somewhere beneath his somewhat surly exterior.

He was asked yesterday if that conversation had been one of the toughest tasks of his entire time at the helm. Clarke answered: “Yes, I think it's hard to leave any player out of the squad. I left John Souttar out of that squad as well.

“And those two conversations were really, really difficult to have. It's a credit to both players that they're still very much in my thoughts, very much in the squad, because that shows the resilience and the character of both players.