Sinclair’s tumble in the box to earn a controversial penalty at Hampden overshadowed his side’s 2-0 Betfred Cup Final win over Motherwell on Sunday.

The winger went to ground after defender Cedric Kipre put an arm on his opponent as he raced past.

Kipre was shown a straight red card and Hoops striker Moussa Dembele scored from the spot to add to James Forrest’s opener.

Sinclair was accused of conning referee Craig Thomson with his antics, but Gordon rallied to the defence of the Englishman.

He said: “Scotty is always looking to shoot, perhaps even when there are passes on.

“If he had the possibility of trying to put that in the back of the net then I am pretty sure he would have taken it.

“He is a goalscorer. He wants to score goals and if he has the opportunity to score a goal he normally tries to stay on his feet to score.

“What I would say about Scotty is that he doesn’t go down easily.

“Thinking back to the game at Celtic Park against Hibs [on September 30] he was straight through and Efe Ambrose tried to bring him down. Scotty stayed on his feet to try to have a shot at goal and they cleared it away. 

“We only got a draw when it should have been a penalty.

“This time he does go to ground to get the penalty.”

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admitted Sinclair was “clever” but insists ref Thomson got the call right and claimed his side don’t get enough spot-kicks.

He said: “Scott is not a diver. We probably get less penalties than I’d expect us to do for the number of times we arrive in the box.

“You can trace back Scott’s career to with me at Swansea and we got a lot of penalties there. 

“Why? Because we had so many players in that area, attacking and being aggressive in the final third of the pitch.

“It’s was the same at Liverpool and it’s the same here, but I don’t think we get so many.

“He’s so fast and I think the boy’s intent was to pull him back.

“So even if he doesn’t go down, he pulls him, so it’s a penalty.

“There was contact. Scott was clever, there’s no doubt, but there was no intent for the ball and I think that was enough to award the penalty.

“The harsh thing for Stephen Robinson is the double whammy – you lose your man. That’s very tough in a final when you go two goals down and are chasing the ball.”

Gordon pulled off a terrific save at point-blank range from Louis Moult to prevent Motherwell drawing level.

The 34-year-old felt it rivalled his reflex stop from Bolton’s Zat Knight in December 2010 when he was at Sunderland, which was voted the best save in the Premier League’s 20 seasons.

“It is close,” added Gordon. “I didn’t win any trophy for that one!

“It may well have been three vital points on the way to avoiding relegation but to do something similar in a cup final, that’s one I will remember.

“It seemed to deflate the Motherwell players.

“We started to get on top of the game and we were all very confident we were going to win, especially after that save.

“A few minutes later we went 2-0 up and the game was pretty much done by then.”

Gordon conceded seven goals during the Champions League thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain in France last Wednesday night.

However, his Hampden display showed it hadn’t affected him. 

He said: “I have been in the game too long now to worry about the last game going into the next one.”