Match Preview: Hearts v Sunderland - It’s Craig Gordon’s testimonial!

Photo by Craig Foy - SNS Group\SNS Group via Getty Images

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Saturday 26th July 2025

Heart of Midlothian v Sunderland

Craig Gordon’s Testimonial

Tynecastle Park

Kick-Off: 15:00

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First off, the Lads are travelling up to Edinburgh today for a reason, and that is of course Craig Gordon’s testimonial. If you want to hear our former goalkeeper talk about his career and his time with Sunderland, you can find that here.

But, does being a testimonial mean that it’s more of a bit of fun than part of the pre-season preparations? Quite often it does, and don’t be surprised if Craig Gordon makes at least a brief appearance, maybe to take a penalty for instance towards the end, but the timing

for both clubs might mean there’s a slight edge.

With the Lads returning to the UK, they will be exactly half way through pre-season fixtures at the final whistle of today’s game - four played and four to go. This means we might be in a different place to Hearts, who are much closer to the real thing (see below), but that doesn’t stop us looking for patterns.

Time will tell if they’re right, but a lot of fans made assumptions based on starting XI’s and substitutions made against Sporting Lisbon. Looking at past pre-seasons, it’s always difficult to know how the manager views the games ahead and how this assessment is influenced by the type of fixture and the type of opposition.

With Le Bris calling for us to be more ruthless and the prospect of yet more new faces before the start of the season, you wouldn’t be surprised to see us begin to ramp things up.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

For Hearts, there’s a new manager at the helm, and once Sunderland target Derek McInnes, is already starting to put his mark on the club. Their Scottish League Cup campaign got underway on the 12th July with a 4-1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic, and since then they have put four past Hamilton and Stirling without reply. So far, so good.

Their final group game was last Wednesday against Dumbarton, so this friendly sits between those cup games and the Scottish Premiership kick-off against Aberdeen on the 4th August. With momentum and fitness levels at stake in what will be their final preparation before the start of the League campaign, Hearts just might take this seriously to see where they stand.

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Played for both...

Craig Gordon

It would be a bit harsh not to pick on Craig Gordon for this segment today! The link to our podcast with Craig is above, so please listen to him talk about his fantastic career, because some of it you need to take a step back to take in at times.

A fantastic goalkeeper for almost 25 years for Hearts, Sunderland, and Celtic, as well as 81 caps for Scotland with potentially more to come. Today is well-deserved, and I’m sure all Sunderland fans wish him the best of luck for today and the season ahead.

Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images

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