Darian has an ideal doppelganger

HAMILTON midfielder Darian MacKinnon is more than just a Scott Brown lookalike — following in the footsteps of the Celtic captain has saved his season.

The Accies enforcer was told he would not kick a ball again during the current campaign after suffering a serious knee injury in January.

However, using his idol’s refusal to give in as an example, MacKinnon has confounded the medical experts by shaving months off his comeback date and he’s targeted a comeback in the next couple of weeks.

‘Darian definitely has the same attitude and mentality as Broony — he’s so professional it’s ridiculous,’ claimed Hamilton manager Martin Canning.

‘He came into the senior game really late and I think he appreciates what he has now, compared to where he’d come from.

‘But it couldn’t have been easy for him coming into the SPFL without having come through an academy and brought up as a full-time player but he’s as dedicated to his job as anyone I’ve come across.

‘He has Scott Brown as his role model and he’s a similar type of player in terms of his style and his nature.

‘Darian definitely brings a lot to this club with his approach to the job and his work-rate — even when he’s not been able to go out on the pitch, he’s beasting himself in the gym every day and that rubs off on everyone else.’

Accies lost box-to-box midfielder Greg Docherty to Rangers during the last transfer window and playmaker Ali Crawford has yet to play this year due to injury, so having MacKinnon back ahead of schedule is a real boost in their battle against the drop.

‘Darian is still a couple of weeks away yet but he’s doing great,’ he beamed.

‘We’d been told he would be out for the rest of the season but he’s knocking weeks off that due to his attitude and professionalism.

‘He is just a really determined guy and he is working his socks off to try and get back as quickly as he can.

‘Up until now he hasn’t had any setbacks and, if that’s still the case in a fortnight, we can have him back training with us.

‘He suffered medial collateral ligament damage in his knee and the doctors reckoned it could be ten weeks before he would be ready to start back but he is only at his fourth week and he is looking good.

‘That says a lot about him. He’s been in every day, volunteering for double sessions and staying later than everyone else.

‘You can’t get him out of the gym. He keeps saying: “I need to be fit enough to play the minute I come back.”

‘That’s the kind of person you want to have round about the place.

‘I would hope he will be back in action after the international break — and, if everything goes absolutely perfectly, maybe even a week or two before that.

‘Obviously, with him being such a key player for us, we’re not going to take risks by rushing him back but he is doing everything he possibly can to get back out there again.’