HAD it not been for David Turnbull’s extraordinary breakout season last term at Motherwell, then it may well have been Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferg-uson who swept up the country’s Young Player of the Year awards at the end of the campaign.

The 19-year-old broke into Derek McInnes’ first team last summer and never looked back. Such is the Dons boss’ confidence in the young midfielder, he believes Ferguson can bring the tenacity in midfield the club has lost with the departure of Graeme Shinnie.

Ferguson began by scoring a bicycle kick against Burnley, notched the winner for Aberdeen against Rangers in the Betfred Cup semi-final and made 44 appearances as the Reds qualified for Europe for a sixth successive campaign.

Initially acquired from Hamilton Academical as little more than an exciting prospect, Ferguson is now one of Aberdeen’s main men. As they struggled to find a winner against RoPS Rovaniemi on Thursday in Finland, it was Ferguson who stood up, scoring in stoppage time to secure their passage to the second round of Europa League qualifying.

“It’s a bit different to the goal I scored at Burnley but a goal is a goal and I’ll take it,” Ferguson said. “They are all great when you score them and it feels great to have won the game in the end.

“There is no better feeling than scoring a goal, even though I should have scored first time. I tried to lift it over the keeper [Antonio Reguero] but I quickly found out you couldn’t do that on the pitch over there. So thankfully I got a second go at it and even though a few of the boys had run up the pitch and were screaming for me to pass, I had a sight of goal so I decided to take it.”

If Ferguson is to replace some of Shinnie’s influence, then he will need to have the confidence to make big decisions. McInnes was content to sit deep against Rovaniemi and see out a 1-1 draw which would see them progress, but Ferguson was willing to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

He said: “The gaffer was shouting at me to sit back and protect the back four because they were throwing everything at us in the last few seconds.

“But I saw the opportunity to break away quickly and get past my man, so I wanted to take it. I was comfortable doing it because I knew Dean Campbell was there to protect us at the other end. I’m just glad I scored because if I hadn’t then the gaffer would probably have had something to say!”

Aberdeen now face a tricky tie against Chikhura Sachkhere of Georgia. The first leg is set to take place on Thursday in Tbilisi, where temperatures are currently hovering around 35 degrees Celsius.

“The staff have been watching them already and they will have us up to speed by the time it comes to travel over there,” said Ferguson.

“The conditions will obviously be a factor because the heat means you have to change the way you approach things. It’s the second round so it’s a tougher test again and you have to deal with the challenges put in front of you.

“In Georgia it will be a new test but that’s part of the excitement of being in Europe. I have played in some games abroad in hot countries before, I was in Bosnia once with the Scotland U19s and it was roasting.

“You just have to manage the conditions and make sure you get as much fluids into you as you can. You can’t go all out and press for 90 minutes in that heat because it will take it out of you and you’ll pay the price. So you have to channel how you work properly, but the lads are fit and we will cope with it.”