One of the big positives from the opening part of the season has been Lewis Ferguson, the youngster who arrived from Hamilton in the summer and has forced his way straight into the first team. He gave his first in depth interview to the AFC programme editor last week before heading off to join up with the Scotland U21s squad yesterday.

“The call up was a surprise. I never really thought about international football to be honest. I have just been so focussed on doing well for Aberdeen.

“I was away with the Scotland U19s last year and played quite a few games at that level. We played in the qualifiers and then the Elite Rounds. My first trip was away to Serbia, and again, that was a bit of a surprise when I got called up. That was just a friendly tournament and then we played France, who were top class, a couple of times.

“Then we went to the Euros. We got through the qualifiers but were a bit unlucky to get paired with Germany, the Netherlands and Norway in our Elite Group. We did ok and beat Holland but we lost 5-4 to Norway in the last game and that put us out. After that, I had never I really thought much about Scotland. No one had mentioned it to me, so I was not really thinking about it.

“I got in from training last week and when I walked into the changing room I was met by Mikey who said congratulations. “What are you talking about?!” He then apologised immediately because he just presumed I had seen it! I went onto social media and saw it for myself. The SFA send an email, but when I get up in the morning, I just get myself ready for training and don’t do much else, like look at my emails!

“I was aiming to make the step up from U19 level to the U21s but did not think it would happen this quickly, so it was a nice surprise and I am really looking forward to it.

“I’ve played with a few of the boys. The centre-half for Hibs, Ryan Porteous, I played with him at 19s. Fraser Hornby at Everton was the same, plus a few others. The other boys I know because I have played against them, many of them you play against from a young age, and, of course, Frank is there as well.

“It will be two tough games. Scotland U21s beat the Netherlands at home last time – I believe Scott McKenna played – and we also beat them at U19 level in the Elite Rounds; they were a top side, we just took our chances. You want to play against good players because it helps your development.

“I have not met Scott Gemmill before. Donald Park and Darren Jackson were my coaches at U19 level along with Gordon Marshall who was the goalkeeping coach, so I knew Gordon before I came up here. I have heard a lot of people in the game speaking very highly about Scott Gemmill. Other players have said how good he is tactically, so I’m looking forward to working with him.

“Most important though, I’m settling in well to life at Pittodrie. From the very first day at the club, everyone made me feel very welcome. It’s easier when you arrive at a new club and you have guys that you already know. Mikey Devlin, he sits next to me in the changing room, so that made things a lot easier. He showed me about. Mikey was my club captain at Hamilton and he has always been someone I have looked up to. If I ever need advice, he is someone I felt comfortable speaking to.

“It is a very easy changing room to come into. Everyone has been brilliant with me around the club and that has allowed me to get on with my football.”

Getting on with his football has included scoring one special goal for the Dons already…

“I’ve scored a few goals before, but not many! I never scored for the Hamilton first team, although I scored a few at U20 level. I was not a regular goal scorer by any matter of means, just chipped in with a few. So let’s just say I never ever expected to score a goal like the one I did against Burnley!

“I was speaking to Mikey about it the other day. On my birthday, the club put the goal out on twitter, and I watched it in the changing room. Mikey was sitting next to me and asked what I remembered about it.

“Nothing really! I think it was their player Wood who headed it back across goal. I remember the ball in the air and the next thing I remember was celebrating! It was a blur. I never actually saw the goal because of the way I landed, so sadly I never got to see it hitting the back of the net! After the game, my phone ran out of charge. We didn’t get into Aberdeen till late, so I went straight to my bed and I actually didn’t see it properly till the next morning. Since then I have watched it back about 100 times! I still watch it.

“It was just instinct, something you would try when you are younger and messing about, before training and after training, but I never thought I would try it in a game!

“I thought we deserved more from the tie. Both legs, I thought we worked extremely hard and limited a very good side to a few chances. I thought the 90 minutes at Turf Moor, we were different class. It was just in extra time we lost our way a bit. Yes, Joe made two or three world class saves, which kept us in it, but I felt we could have gone on and won it. We had a few chances that on another day we would have taken and gone through. Overall, I thought we were outstanding and hopefully we can get back to that level of performance after the international break.”

Lewis is an extremely impressive youngster on and off the field; mature and very focussed who speaks well about the game. You can read the full, fascinating interview with him in the next edition of RedMatchday.