Craig Gordon not only has his sights on equalling Henry Smith's Hearts European record - but he wants to BEAT it next season.
The Jambos No1 currently sits on 21 European appearances for the Tynecastle club and he can become the club's joint record appearance holder later tonight in Istanbul if boss Robbie Neilson gives him the nod for the final Europa Conference League fixture against Istanbul Basaksehir.
Gordon, 39, is determined to return to the big stage with Hearts next season as the capital club turn focus to finishing third in the Premiership behind Celtic and Rangers following the conclusion of this match. The Gorgie side have suffered from injuries and a hectic match schedule but they are only three points behind rivals Hibs - with a game in hand.
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In the immediate term, Gordon admits he will be delighted to join Henry on 22 appearances before looking to go out on his own next year at the top of the charts. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: “If I’m chosen! So, we’ll have to wait and see. One of the big motivating factors when I came back to Hearts was knowing how close I was.
"I was aware that if we qualified, I was going to have to play in every match of the group stage to try and equal it.
“I don’t want to just equal it; I want to beat it. I want to break it next year, and that means we need to qualify again. Hopefully we can take some things from what we learned along the way in this campaign.
“Henry’s one of the all-time leading appearance holders for the club. It’s great to be talked about in the same breath as people who were my heroes. Growing up, I watched Henry play and towards the end of his career – I even got to play against him.
“I’m sure he had no idea who I was, but it was very special for me and I’m delighted that I might be able to join him on 22 European appearances for Hearts.”
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