THERE are nine million differences between the British-record move that took Craig Gordon to Sunderland in 2007 and the free transfer that saw Jon McLaughlin join the Black Cats this summer, but the two players still share plenty in common aside from being goalkeepers.

For a start, they both left Hearts to move to the Stadium of Light. They both joined Sunderland at a time when goalkeeping was a major issue, and quickly established themselves as important senior figures on Wearside. Next week, as domestic football heads into a two-week hiatus, they will be team-mates with Scotland as Alex McLeish’s side prepare for matches against Israel and Portugal.

True, one cost £9m and the other left Tynecastle for nothing, but when McLaughlin chats to Gordon at Scotland’s training base, he will be talking to a goalkeeper who knows all about the unique demands of being the last line of defence in a Sunderland shirt.

Gordon’s time on Wearside was blighted by a succession of serious injuries, but he still did enough in the space of 95 senior appearances to stake a claim to be Sunderland’s best goalkeeper of the Premier League era prior to the emergence of Jordan Pickford.

McLaughlin is still at the start of his Black Cats career, but as he prepares to make his 12th league appearance for Sunderland this afternoon, he is looking forward to seeing what Gordon made of life in the North-East.

“I’m sure he (Gordon) still has really fond memories of his time here,” said McLaughlin, who made his senior Scotland debut at the start of the summer. “He was a big signing at the time, so it’ll be interesting to get his insight.

“Scotland have some very good goalkeepers – Craig and Allan (McGregor) at Rangers too. They’ve got an awful lot of caps between them, they’ve had it boxes off for years between them.

“For me, it’s about enjoying the experience and whatever comes of it. Enjoy being with that calibre of player, and hope that I can bring something back to Sunderland.”

McGregor was understandably disappointed to have been left out of the Scotland squad for last month’s matches against Belgium and Albania, but his form with Sunderland has secured him a recall ahead of Millwall’s Jordan Archer.

At the age of 31, his international opportunities are likely to be limited, so he is determined to make the most of his time in the Scotland camp, even if it means having to pass up the opportunity of the down-time that will be available to the vast majority of his Sunderland team-mates.

“It’s great to be back involved,” he said. “I’ve only recently started to get involved, so it’s really special for me.

“I’m sure the other lads are grateful for the break that myself and Tom (Flanagan) have got them. We will avoid the photos popping up on the WhatsApp group of the lads enjoying themselves! But I’ll enjoy the time and be ready to get back to the league.”

McLaughlin’s performances are one of the main reasons why Sunderland head to Valley Parade this afternoon sitting in the top four in the League One table, even if his clean-sheet record doesn’t quite reflect the overall standard of his play.

Sunderland’s only clean sheet this season came in August’s 3-0 win over Scunthorpe, and the likes of Fleetwood, Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury have all conceded fewer goals than the Black Cats, even though they sit in the bottom half.

At times, Sunderland have defended poorly, and their manager, Jack Ross, accepts there is a need to cut out costly individual mistakes.

However, McLaughlin also feels that the club’s front-foot playing style makes them vulnerable to being open at the back, something that contributed to Tuesday’s wide-open draw with Peterborough United.

“We’re a team that’s always going to hurt teams going the other way a lot, so that makes us more open to the counter-attack,” he said. “That’s just the nature of it. Peterborough are the same in that regard.

“You won’t always have the back door shut back - that’s not what we’re about. We’ve just to become a bit more ruthless. We’ve been unfortunate in some respects, but it’s something for us to be working on. We’re very aware of the areas we need to improve. It’s not for lack of trying or understanding, we know what it’s about.”

Tuesday’s draw means Sunderland head into today’s game seven points adrift of league leaders Portsmouth, but as a seasoned campaigner with experience of many a Football League promotion push, McLaughlin claims it is still much too early to be paying too much attention to gaps at the top of the table.

“It’s a long season, and until you’ve got past the halfway point, you don’t really know where teams are,” he said. “You can’t panic, you just keep plugging away. Don’t look at the points gap or anything like that. We have to back ourselves, and do the work right.”