LIKE all Celtic supporters, Darian MacKinnon was swept up in the emotion of Massimo Donati’s last-minute winner over Shakhtar Donetsk on November 28, 2007 which effectively led Gordon Strachan’s side into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Never in his wildest dreams, could he have imagined that nine years later he would be playing beside the Italian midfielder in the top flight of Scottish football.

MacKinnon was playing for Dumbarton amateur side St Patrick’s Athletic at the time and the professional game seemed like a different universe.

Of course, a fairy tale unfolded as he was spotted playing for Clydebank Juniors five years later and given his chance by Hamilton.

On Saturday he even managed to out-shine the mightily impressive Donati, who has given Accies fantastic organisation, solidity and leadership in his role just in front of the back four.

With Ali Crawford missing as a result of suffering concussion in training, MacKinnon rose to the challenge of playing a more offensive game and he was outstanding as Hamilton deservedly recorded their first league win of the season.

MacKinnon said: “Massimo brings a touch of class. You can see that. He knows where to be on the pitch.

“He might not be the fastest or quickest player, but he never gets caught out of position. You can see how good he is on the ball and he makes a big difference to us.

‘Obviously I used to watch him. I always remind him about the goal against Shakhtar Donetsk. I am a big Celtic fan so it is good to play with someone like that.

“Of course it helps my game to have him in the team. I don’t mind playing as a sitter when I am directly up against someone.

‘But when I have to get on the half-turn, I can’t be bothered with that. I want to be up in people’s faces and running forward.

“If the gaffer is going to decide that Massimo is going play there then I can play up one.

“In some games it works well to have me and Greg Docherty, because it brings a lot of pace and power and we get about the pitch.

‘But in other games you need wee Ali. He can’t do what we can do. But we can’t do what he can, because he can be just magic.”

It was Dougie Imrie who secured a thoroughly merited victory 16 minutes from time with a cool close range finish after MacKinnon had miss-kicked, trying to connect with Docherty’s pass.

Hamilton were slicker on the ball and seemed hungrier for the fight than their Highland rivals, who were surprisingly off-colour.

It was only a second home victory in 16 league fixtures and MacKinnon added: “We played really well. We have been playing well in recent weeks but the difference this time is that we got the reward. We thoroughly deserved the three points.

‘It’s massive for us to get a home win. To be honest, we don’t really think about it during the game. It’s just after it that you appreciate it, because you don’t want to keep playing well and not getting the win.

‘I didn’t actually realise that it was six months last season we were without a home win. That was bad