Craig Gordon has admitted that his return to full international football has taken him by surprise.

Gordon played the first 45 minutes of last night's friendly 1-0 win over Northern Ireland, his first start in four years for the national side after spending two years out of the game because of injury.

His return to the international fold caps an impressive campaign for the 32-year-old who admitted he feared his time at the top had passed him by.

"I don't think I would have believed it if someone would have told me this time a year ago that I'd have played more than 40 games for Celtic this season and then got back into the Scotland squad," he said.

"I was delighted to be back. I really enjoy playing for my country and I was pleased that I still remembered all the words to the national anthem!

"It is a great feeling to be back involved.

"Physically, I am pain free and injury free and I am loving playing. That is more than 40 games this season and there are a fair few still to come."

Whether or not he will get the nod for Sunday's European Championship qualifier game at Hampden against Gibraltar remains to be seen.

With David Marshall and Allan McGregor also in the squad there is competition for places and the trio will be waiting until Sunday morning before they find out who starts.

"I only found out yesterday morning that I was starting the game so I would imagine that it will be the same again on Sunday - the three of us will be hanging on to see who gets the nod from the manager," he said. "That always tends to be the way he does it.

"He tells us the team in the morning so it is just a case of waiting to see what happens between now and then.

"I think both myself and Allan [McGregor] will feel that we didn't do too much wrong last night while David will feel that he has proved himself at this level too. So the three of us will just need to see who the manager wants to go with."

The win over Northern Ireland maintains Scotland's confidence ahead of their European Championship qualifier and Gordon believes that it was important to keep the momentum going ahead of Sunday's game.

Matt Ritchie, making his international debut, provided the corner from which Christophe Berra netted four minutes from time to given Scotland a win they just about deserved.

"The dressing room is a happy place to be just now and I think that is good because everyone feeds off that confidence," said Gordon.

"The win just keeps that feeling going.

"I was pleased for Matt too. This is his first time in Scotland and playing the whole 90 minutes of the game will help him to settle in a bit. He enjoyed the part he played in the win and I am sure he will have given the manager some food for thought."