Scots dealt Gordon blow

Scotland's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign has been dealt a major blow with the news that goalkeeper Craig Gordon is set to miss the next six months following knee surgery. The Sunderland stopper has had an injury interrupted season and the latest problem with his knee has kept Gordon sidelined for much of 2011.

After consulting a specialist following continued discomfort, it was decided that surgery was the only option for Gordon and the recovery period will probably mean Scotland have to finish their qualifying campaign.



Sunderland boss Steve Bruce revealed the news that Gordon will miss the rest of the Black Cats' season due to his latest setback.



"Craig had the operation yesterday and it went well. He will be out for about four to six months now. Craig's been following a programme, but when the specialist had a look at the knee again, we were left with no choice but to go ahead with the surgery," he said.



Although the news will be a heavy hammer blow to Scotland's chances of finally returning the European Championships, Sunderland will be hit worse by the injury as they look to battle against possible relegation from the Premier League. Gordon's replacement at Sunderland Simon Mignolet, had a nightmare during his side's 2-0 loss to Birmingham and Bruce was looking to reinstate the Scot for this important part of the season.

For Scotland there will be two games that Gordon definitely will be forced to miss, Czech Republic and Lithuania at Hampden Park in September. There is an outside chance that the away games at Lichtenstein and Spain in October may be pencilled in as possible comeback matches for Gordon, but that would rely on a problem free recovery from fairly serious knee injury.



With Gordon out of the side the jersey will likely be handed to Rangers' Allan MacGregor who has had another decent season for his club. Neil Alexander will be another who will be eyeing his chance of playing some part in this qualifying campaign.