Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee lavished praise on skipper Paul Hartley following his side's emphatic Clydesdale Bank Premier League opening day victory against Hamilton.
The former Bristol City and Celtic midfielder enjoyed a dream debut, scoring a hat-trick of penalties at Pittodrie. Zander Diamond also netted as the Dons ran out 4-0 winners to earn their first opening day home win in 16 years.
McGhee said: "Paul's performance and leadership out there was invaluable. Having the luck to get three penalties and a hat-trick on his debut is the stuff that legends are made of. It was brilliant for us all to be part of that."
And the Dons' manager believes there is no reason why the midfielder can't force his way back into the Scotland set-up if he continues to perform in the same manner.
"He knows he has to perform like that every week," said McGhee. "He will get tremendous confidence from what has happened.
"The crowd and the players around him will also have tremendous confidence in him. If he stays healthy and we continue to improve then there is no reason why he can't work his way back into it."
Hamilton boss Billy Reid had no complaints about the performance of referee Dougie McDonald, despite the awarding of the three spot-kicks.
He said: "I thought the first two were stonewall penalties, the third one I would need to see again. I have no complaints at all and I thought the referee handled the situation well. It is a strange game as you can sometimes only concede a couple of penalties in a season, so to concede three in one game is quite incredible.
"All credit to Paul Hartley for scoring all three but you can't expect to defend like that and win the game. It was strange because I thought we played decent football at times and were the better team for the first 15 minutes but it was Aberdeen's day.
"Days like this happen in football and you just have to take your medicine."
Source: PA
