Craig Gordon says Calem Nieuwenhof can bring a lot to Hearts after injury return

Craig Gordon believes Calem Nieuwenhof can bring fresh impetus to Hearts’ midfield after the Australian banished almost a year on the sidelines with a pivotal goal to keep his side in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup on Monday.

The 23-year-old had not featured since the 2-0 win over Celtic at the start of March 2024 after a hamstring injury proved more problematic than initially anticipated to recover from. But Nieuwenhof made a stunning return to action by scoring an equaliser within a minute of stepping off the bench in the closing stages of the fifth-round tie away to William Hill Premiership rivals St Mirren.

After a 1-1 draw, Hearts eventually prevailed 4-2 on penalties, extending their unbeaten run to eight games since the Boxing Day defeat by Hibernian, with Scotland goalkeeper Gordon also having a night to remember as he made two spot-kick saves in the shootout.

“It’s been great to have Calem back,” said the 42-year-old, who is no stranger to long-term injury lay-offs himself.

“He’s obviously had some real bad luck with injuries over the last year but he’s a really good player, a really solid midfield player.

“He brings a lot to the team. He’s a great player for us to have coming back and being fresh at this stage of the season, ready to go again.

“I was absolutely delighted for him to get a goal. Hopefully he can continue to kick on and get more minutes because that’s an area of the pitch where it’s great to have somebody else coming back into the fold at this stage.

“He was on the bench last week and he never got on so to come on to a game when you’re 1-0 down with not long to go to try and help turn it around, he was fantastic. He’s so laidback, I would never worry about him in any situation.

“There was absolutely no way he was going to be fazed by coming back into that sort of action to help the team out and he came up with a hugely vital goal for us.”

On his own heroics on Monday, when he saved St Mirren’s first two penalties from Oisin Smyth and James Scott, Gordon revealed he had been preparing for the possibility of a shootout in training.

“It was something that we did with the guys that were likely to take penalties,” he said.

“I’d made a few saves (in training), so I was looking forward to it. I thought I might get one or two. To get the first two and really put the pressure on the guys coming after that and take the pressure off my team was nice.”

Hearts will now welcome top-flight rivals Dundee – whom they defeated 6-0 earlier this month – to Tynecastle in the quarter-final in March.

“You look for a home draw and it’s been a while since we’ve had one, so it was nice to get through and get rewarded with a home tie,” said Gordon. “I’m sure they’ll be out for revenge, especially after last week there, so it will be a difficult one.”