Gordon: 'I'll be fit to face Norway'

CRAIG Gordon has assured national team boss George Burley he will be back in action in time for Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Norway.

The Sunderland goalkeeper has been pencilled in for a knee operation at the weekend and will not play again this season.

However, he is confident he will be fully fit in time to join the rest of his international team-mates for the clash in Oslo on 12 August.

He told BBC Scotland: "There should be no problem.

"There will be a couple of weeks of not doing an awful lot after my operation, then back into my rehab and there should be no problem by the time I come back for pre-season."

Scotland currently occupy second spot in Group Nine and are hopeful of clinching a play-off place which could take them to the World Cup finals.

Gordon added: "That really is the pinnacle, that's where you want to be.

"To have that experience, even just one time in your career, would be fantastic."

The 26-year-old has seen his second season on Wearside following his £9 million move from Hearts seriously disrupted by fitness problems with the latest setback ruling him out of the Black Cats' battle to stay in the Barclays Premier League.

Gordon told the club's official website, www.safc.com: "I'm going to have it done on Saturday and hopefully that can sort out the problem as it's been a frustrating time for me.

"There's only three weeks of the season left so obviously that's the end of my campaign.

"There'll be a period of rest and recovery and then I'll start my rehab so I'm ready for pre-season training."

Gordon's first setback this season came on the eve of the derby clash with Newcastle back in October when he suffered the ankle injury which limited him to just two appearances in a run of 26 games as Marton Fulop took over.

He returned briefly at the end of November in what proved to be Keane's final game in charge, a 4-1 home defeat by Bolton, and manager Ricky Sbragia admits that probably set him back by up to three months.

Gordon's latest absence just three games into his comeback sparked suggestions he had been dropped after 49 appearances to avoid triggering a £300,000 payment to Hearts for playing 50 matches, something chairman Niall Quinn has angrily denied.

Sbragia said: "He (Gordon] has been unlucky. Maybe he came back from the first injury too early against Bolton. He wasn't fit and knocked himself back for another 10, 12 weeks.

"Unfortunately, that happened to him and it has not been a great season for him.

"He had the injury and he came back too early. He might have done some kicking in training, but in a game, he is probably going to do 50 or 60 long kicks, and sometimes you can't replicate that in training."

Sbragia has urged the club's big-money signings to follow the example of bargain buy Danny Collins as they attempt to drag themselves out of trouble.

The 28-year-old Welshman, who joined the Black Cats from Chester in October 2004 for just £140,000 under then manager Mick McCarthy, has repaid his fee many times over, in stark contrast to some of the club's more expensively-acquired arrivals.

This week, he was named the supporters' association's player of the year for the second successive season having earlier been rewarded by the club with a two-and-a-half-year contract extension.

Sbragia said: "Danny is really focused – that's why we gave him a contract, because he is everything you want.

"He loves the club, he sweats blood for it."