Sunderland goalkeeper Gordon regained his number one spot for tonight's 2-1 win over Iceland at Hampden after McGregor and Scotland captain Ferguson were dropped to the bench by George Burley for a drinking session at Scotland's Cameron House base following Saturday's 3-0 defeat in Holland.

Gordon was back to his best against Iceland and after goals by Ross McCormack and Steven Fletcher had taken the Scots ahead, his fantastic double save at the end kept the Scots' World Cup hopes alive.

While the Tartan Army celebrated their side moving in to second place in qualifying Group Nine with seven points from five games, Gordon believes errant Rangers duo Ferguson and McGregor should be back in the fold for August's trip to Norway.

He said: "The players were aware of the incident; we hoped it would not come out but in football it's hard to keep these things quiet.

"The players and management dealt with it and hopefully it's behind us now.

"I don't think there is any problem. He (Barry) accepts it was the wrong thing to do and he had his punishment and we move on from here.

"But there is absolutely no doubt that they should be in the next squad.

"You need your best players and, without doubt, those two should be in every squad; they are our best players."

Gordon lost his place to McGregor for Saturday's game at the Amsterdam ArenA after finding himself on the bench at Sunderland following a foot injury.

The former Hearts keeper thanked Burley for giving him another chance against Iceland but will not take his number one spot for granted.

He said: "It was good that the manager told me early in the week that I would not be playing against Holland; it gave me time to get my head round it.

"Obviously, I was disappointed but he showed great faith in me to bring me back into a must-win game.

"I can only thank him for that.

"It's been a long road back from the amount of time I've spent out.

"I've not managed to get my club place back straight away and to put in a performance like that was good for me.

"I knew I had done a good job when I came off at the end and it was very satisfying. It puts things back on track for me.

"It's still a competition between Alan and me; if things don't work out at club level then I will be under pressure again so I can't say the jersey's mine to keep."