Scots earn crucial win

Indridi Sigurdsson had levelled for the visitors but George Burley's men managed to claim the three points which allowed them to open up a gap to their nearest rivals in second place in Group Nine.

Just hours earlier, it emerged captain Barry Ferguson and goalkeeper Allan McGregor - who had made his competitive debut in Saturday's 3-0 defeat in Holland - were dropped from the team after a late-night drinking session.

The breakthrough came six minutes before the break when excellent play saw Alan Hutton race down the right flank and skip past Bjarni Eiriksson before finding Ross McCormack to rifle high into the net.

Stephen McManus could have doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time but sent a header glancing over from McCormack's free-kick.

Hutton had been the architect of the opening goal and had a couple of decent chances to add his own name to the scoresheet after the restart, but it was Iceland who had the net bulging after 54 minutes. Palmi Palmason raced past McManus before smacking the post with a long-distance shot and the rebound fell kindly for Sigurdsson to drive home.

Scotland recovered from the setback and were back in front with 65 minutes on the clock. McCormack's corner found McManus who delivered a header into the six-yard box where Steven Fletcher was waiting to nod into the back of the net.

Darren Fletcher could have killed off any hope of another comeback when he chased a James Morrison pass but Gunnleifur Gunnleifsson was first to the ball.

The Iceland goalkeeper then did well to block a thunderous free-kick from Morrison before the West Brom midfielder slotted agonisingly wide from a tight angle.

Gordon prevented a late catastrophe when he blocked from both Eggert Jonsson and Hermann Hreidarsson as Scotland managed to hold on for the win which means South Africa in 2010 remains a possibility for now.