Gordan, 28, is battling back to fitness following knee surgery in April. The goalkeeper has refused to set any deadlines for his return to action but is confident he will be good enough to force his way back into the top team for both club and country. He said: "I think everybody will be looking at me when I come back from injury to see what effect it's had on me. So I'll come back and try to prove myself all over again, the same as you do when you first come into the team. "There never seems to be any point in your career where you stop proving yourself and that is actually a bit of a motivation for me to come back and prove to everybody that I've still got it and that these injuries haven't taken any toll on me, that I can get back to doing what I was doing before and come back fitter and stronger and get back out there and play." Gordon is out of contract at Sunderland at the end of the season and discussions over a new deal have yet to get underway. He said: "He (Steve Bruce) has not spoken to me about that. I'll just concentrate on getting myself fit and try to make it impossible for him to leave me out. "I'll just get back and do the things I was doing when I was fully fit. If I can do that, I'm confident my abilities can get me back in the team and playing well. Once I get back playing, I'm confident that my abilities can get me back into the Scotland team as well." Sunderland recruited Kieran Westwood in the summer, while Simon Mignolet has been between the sticks for their opening two Premier League games. Gordon added: "It's not a concern. Once I get fit, there is good competition there but, as a professional footballer, I back myself and I back my own abilities. "If I can get back into training and train well, I don't see any reason why I won't be picked to play in the first team." Gordon had been linked with a move to Celtic before the Hoops re-signed Newcastle goalkeeper Fraser Forster on a season-long loan. The Scotland international said: "I hadn't been contacted personally. Whether there were discussions or not, it never got as far as anybody talking about it to me. "There were a few clubs linked but I've not spoken to Sunderland about my future so I don't really know where I stand. "That's fine by me at the moment. I just want to get myself fit and then I can think about that afterwards." On his progress, Gordon - who does not expect to be in contention for next month's Euro 2012 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Lithuania but refused to rule out the double-header in October - said: "I've started doing a little bit of light training on my own and I've done a few sessions with the goalkeeping coach. "I'm not quite at the stage where I'm joining in with the team just yet. I'll review that after a couple of weeks of doing the training on my own and we'll see where I am after that. "I don't want to put a timescale on things at this stage. It was quite a vague timescale I was given by the surgeon - between four and six months. That's four month just passed since I had the operation. "It's difficult to tell when exactly I'll be back in full training and ready for games. It has been frustrating. It's always difficult when you're out injured and unfortunately I've had a few injuries back-to-back, which doesn't help. "I've just got to get my head down and do the rehab work. It's difficult, it's hard work and painful at times but there is nothing else for it. I just have to work as hard as I can and get back as quickly as possible."
