Craig Gordon responded to his Hearts setback against Ross County with an inspired display in the win over Motherwell.
The veteran goalkeeper, 41, dropped a clanger at County as he contributed massively to his side throwing away a two-goal lead to draw.
For the second stoppage time Staggies goal, a ball was flighted into the box and Gordon came to meet it but let it squirm it under him and Jordan White was able to score the equaliser.
But he has shown time and time and again throughout his career that he can respond to setbacks and did so again at Tynecastle on Thursday.
The Scotland shotstopper kept his place in the team despite that error and wasn’t called into action too much by Motherwell.
But with Hearts holding onto a one-goal lead at the death, he had to be alert to make two saves. The second of which was a brilliant instinctive stop to deny Jack Vale and prevent another collapse.
Gordon is out of contract at the end of the season and is way past the sort of age when most would be looking to retire.
Hearts’ Gordon said to be 50/50 on retirement
But the Jambos legend is said to be unsure of what he’s going to do next.
Gordon lost years of his career to a nasty injury when he was younger and at Sunderland and said from then on he was determined to make up for it by playing on as long as possible.
The time may be coming though and it has been revealed he is currently 50/50 on what to do next.
ESPN commentator and former journalist Mark Donaldson has a relationship with Gordon and told the Hearts Standard podcast his view on the situation.
“Only Craig, Craig is the one who will decide when he has had enough,” he insisted.
“He honestly hasn’t made his mind up yet, he’s 50/50 as to what he is going to do next season.
“If this becomes more habitual (the mistake) rather than hopefully just a one off, then we have a problem. Does he survive this?
“If they’re thinking that they’d rather have Zander Clark next season than no goalkeeper, and they don’t want him to go to Hibs under freedom of contract, as of midnight on January 1 he can talk to whoever he wants.
“He’s (Clark) not going to sign a contract without a guarantee he’s going to play some part of the rest of the season. So there’s something else to think about.”
Hinting at international retirement, he went on: “I think his body tells him and he might not make that decision until March at the earliest. He’ll probably play his last two games for Scotland in March, if he’s still the number one at Hearts.
“Even a guarantee that he would be first choice (at Hearts) next season….he won’t want to just play for the sake of it.
“He’ll want to be in a position that he feels he’s still got something to offer. And if it any stage he has doubts and it might be detrimental to the club, he’s a Hearts fan like us.
“The last thing he would want, whether it’s him or somebody else, is someone to keep goal at the club just because they’re a Hearts fan.
“So even if Neil Critchley says he wants him to be number one, I don’t think that’s the be all and end all for Craig.
“He’ll decide when he’s had enough. He’ll not want to go out as second choice.
“There’s no point us second guessing what’s going to happen because the man himself hasn’t decided yet.”
What Gordon has said about his Hearts contract
Gordon said: “There’s been no contract talks, it’s too early for that. We’ll have a discussion over the next few months but at the moment I’m happy to be doing everything I can to improve our situation.
“I didn’t envisage playing to this age, definitely not.
“This is absolutely a bonus stage of my career to still be here playing at this level. To play at Tynecastle was always my dream as a youngster so to still be doing that is incredible. I honestly can’t believe that I’m still doing it and still have that opportunity.
“All I can do is my very best for as long as I possibly can and we’ll see how long that is. But it’s got to be worth it, we’ve got to move up the table and finish the season as strong as we possibly can to put ourselves in a better position going forward.
“But it does make you reflect. It’s a new year starting and, from where I’ve come, especially over the last couple of years, and going back to Dundee United, I’ve come back from [my injury] and played another 30 to 40 games since. It’s an incredible achievement. Even going through the rehab, that was probably a high number to achieve.”