HEARTS legend Henry Smith insists Craig Gordon pips Joe Hart to the crown of the best goalkeeper in Scotland.
The pair will be at opposite ends of the park tomorrow when the Gorgie side travel to Celtic and Smith insists there is only one clear winner when it comes to who the most influential shot-stopper in the country is.
Gordon seems to be getting better with age amid another outstanding season at club and international level and was even named the Scottish Football Writers’ Association player of the year earlier this week.
The 39-year-old has amassed a total of 20 clean sheets and produced a string of world class saves this season as Hearts confirmed third place in the league and set up a Scottish Cup final against Rangers.
And former Hearts goalkeeper Henry, who played for the club between1981 and 1996, believes there is no-one better than keeping the ball out of the net domestically.
Smith said: “In the last couple of years I think he has been absolutely outstanding.
“What he puts into the game he’s getting the benefits of now. He is the best in Scotland, that goes with Joe Hart as well, I think he is a better keeper than Joe Hart.
“He makes saves that win you games and keeps his team in the game.
“He inspires confidence throughout the rest of the team to go and win these games when they have been under pressure. That’s what a good goalkeeper does.
“He’s worth 10, 15 points a season to Hearts, that’s why they’ve finished third this year and I'm over the moon for the guy.
“It’s alright doing it in training but the next step is doing it in games and Craig has been doing that since he’s come back from his injuries at Celtic and now at Hearts, where he has gone up two or three levels with the saves he’s made, not just good saves but world class saves.”
Smith dominates the list for the record of the number of clean sheets held in a single season at Hearts with his tallies of 25, 24 and 21 in the top three places.
Gordon is just behind on 20 with four games left of the campaign and Henry would love to see him achieve more.
He added: “Why not? Records are there to be broken. For all the guys to do it Craig is the guy.
“I was at the game last weekend and we talked about this with the records I’ve got with appearances, consecutive appearances, European games, all of that. I asked him what ones he was chasing.
“First thing he asked was 'when did you retire' and I said 52, he said that’s out of the window for a start.
“The only one he could do is the European one and he’s eight behind and he could equal or better that record in the European sense.
“We had a good laugh about that.”
