Scotland’s number one at the moment is David Marshall, and that is a real kick in the teeth for two Celtic stars.
When Allan McGregor decided to retire from international duty last season, it opened the door up for both Scott Bain and Craig Gordon. Bain was Celtic’s first-choice shot-stopper at the time. He even got his international chance in Kazakhstan and San Marino. Unfortunately, the 3-0 loss to the Kazakhs left a black mark on his record.
Marshall was then thrown back in for the June fixtures against Cyprus and Belgium respectively. The former Celtic man produced some fine stops in Brussels to justify his inclusion.
But it even looked for a short period as though Gordon could perhaps have ended up pipping Marshall. He won the jersey back off Bain at Celtic, and performed well against AIK over the Europa League playoff tie.
Unfortunately, however, the signing of Fraser Forster appears to be hinting at him being the future number one at Parkhead. And that has left both Gordon and Bain lagging behind in the race to be Scotland’s top shot-stopper.
David Marshall not letting anyone down as Scotland’s number one
It doesn’t help the Celtic duo that Marshall has performed well since returning to the international fold. The Wigan Athletic goalkeeper made some fine stops against Russia to stop it from becoming a rout. Nobody could’ve complained had Scotland been hammered on Friday night.
In fact, that’s now back-to-back international matches where Marshall has stopped Scotland from being wholly embarrassed on the night. And what that means is that both Bain and Gordon must step it up. Only there’s one big problem.
The signing of Forster is seriously threatening their chance to put pressure on Marshall. As it stands, it’s looking like an extremely tough battle to get back into the Scotland or Celtic sides respectively.
Forster’s clean sheet at Ibrox also won’t have helped Gordon or Bain’s chances. The former Southampton number one didn’t have much to do against Steven Gerrard’s side. Even so, it still reads well for the big goalkeeper to have a clean sheet and a penalty save in his last two matches.
Clarke didn’t even call up Bain or Gordon either. Instead, Jon McLaughlin of Sunderland and Craig MacGillivray of Portsmouth were given nods as the respective back-up. It’s a clear sign that our two shot-stoppers have work to do to get back into the squad.
Hopefully, one of them can work their way back into international contention. But in order to do that, they have a real tall order in trying to overcome Forster in the race to be Celtic’s main man.
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