Caps can help Dons’ tilt at title — McLean

ONCE the personal joy of making his full Scotland debut had subsided for Kenny McLean, i t was matched by a renewed sense of hope for Aberdeen’s season.

The midfielder played in his nation’s 1-0 win over the Czech Republic last week in Prague, becoming the first Don to pull on a Scotland strip since Chris Maguire in 2011.

McLean was also the f i rst Aberdeen player to start a game in dark blue since Lee Miller against Japan seven years ago.

If Scotland internationals at Pittodrie have proved rarer than hen’s teeth in recent years, it was ironic that the former St Mirren star’s debut came in the same week that Aberdeen team-mates Simon Church, Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes were also away on duty with their respective nations.

Church scored for Wales in their draw against Northern Ireland, while McGinn won his 39th cap for Michael O’Neill’s side in Monday’s 1-0 win over Slovenia. Hayes picked up his first two caps for the Republic of Ireland in the Dublin double-header against Switzerland and Slovakia as the Granite City trio boosted their hopes of making it to Euro 2016.

McLean, and Scotland, may not be bound for France this summer, but the 24- year- old feels the increasing recognition of Aberdeen players can only benefit Derek McInnes’ team in the latter stages of their quest for the title.

Now four points behind Celtic, he believes that he and his colleagues’ i nternational experiences can refuel the Pittodrie collective in their bid to be crowned Scottish champions for the first time in 31 years.

‘There are usually only one or two picked but it’s great we’ve got so many just now. It shows we’re getting the recognition,’ said McLean.

‘It has a knock-on effect because it will make those who aren’t involved hungry to get in the squads, too.

‘You could see at training on Wednesday, the happiness for the boys who were returning from international duty.

‘We’re a really close group with everyone behind each other and we were all congratulating each other. It was great to see how happy people were for us.

‘There is no doubt it can give us a boost for the remaining league games.

‘ The boys r eturning f r om international duty have that wee bit of confidence and spring in their step after getting game time for their country.

‘It’s because of what we’ve done at club level that we got picked for our countries.

‘It’s both individual and team performances which have been great and international managers have noticed that.

‘We enjoyed it but it’s gone and now we need to work hard to get in the next squads.

‘I need to work hard and I’m more determined than ever.

‘I’m supposed to be going away with my family to Bulgaria at the time of the friendlies (against Italy and France) at the end of the season.

‘I’d gladly cancel that if it meant being involved with Scotland and I’m sure my family would enjoy the holiday without me.’

Aberdeen signed off for the international break with a 2-1 loss at Motherwell, hours after Celtic’s last-gas p winner at Kilmarnock. From having their destiny in their own hands, the momentum has swung back to the Parkhead club, who also have a game in hand.

Ronny Deila’s side, who host Hearts on Saturday, could be seven clear by the time Aberdeen kick off against Hamilton the next day.

But McLean insists a team who kicked off their season with a record eight straight wins are determined to end it with seven-in-a-row.

He said: ‘We’ve got the mentality that we know we can win every game from now until the end of the season.

‘It’s about taking it game by game. Points will be dropped along the way — I just hope it’s not us.

‘We’re confident we can go on a good run. We know we’re good enough. If there are slip- ups along the way, then I hope we can capitalise.

‘We’ve shown twice at Pittodrie this season that we can beat Celtic and we’ll deal with that last Celtic game when it comes.

‘It can be tough when Celtic play first but we’ll go into the game on Sunday and be ready whether Celtic win, lose or draw.

‘We’ve been looking at Hamilton and we know how important it is to get three points.’

Kenny McLean was speaking at the Tesco Bank Football Festival at St Machar academy in aberdeen. Over 100,000 children have now taken part in the grassroots schools programme.