Stephen Robinson claimed Motherwell defender Declan Gallagher is on the road to becoming a "complete player" after he received his maiden Scotland call-up during the international break.
The 28-year-old former Celtic trainee got the reward for an impressive start to his Motherwell career as Steve Clarke called him into his squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Russia and San Marino after Grant Hanley and Ryan Jack had to pull out.
Gallagher was one of several Well players to receive international recognition during the break and Robinson believes this is a reflection of how well the club are doing, with five wins from their last six league games propelling them towards the top end of the table.
Manager Robinson heaped praise on summer signing Gallagher before urging him to keep up the good work.
He said: "I'm really pleased for him. I think he thoroughly deserved it.
"He's been a real standout performer for us this season and he's worked very, very hard.
"I think he's got better and better with each game, he's taken more and more responsibility and he's becoming a complete player at our level.
"He's got his just rewards. He didn't get game time but that's just the start of it. He's got his call-up and what he has to do is keep working harder, keep improving and he'll be on Steve's radar.
"I think we had seven or eight away, which is hard to work with at times, but we've got so many good young players at the club and it gives them a chance to be up with the first team.
"And you start to get to know the boys that are 15 and 16 that are in on day release from school as well and they're training with people like Peter Hartley so it's a real experience for them.
"So you can't do loads of tactical work but you can certainly bring the club together.
"It's how well the club have done recently and boys have had their reward for that due to that but you always have a little fear that they'll come back and be injured. So as much as it's good, for a club manager, you're always a wee bit nervous."
Motherwell's fine start has seen them climb up to third in the Ladbrokes Premiership table, four points clear of Saturday's visitors Aberdeen in fourth.
But Robinson does not feel the teams' respective places in the league table puts any extra importance on the game.
He added: "I won't read too much into talk that all of a sudden if we manage to beat Aberdeen we're definitely going to finish third. That's not how we look at it.
"We try to build each week, each game, try to keep improving and I genuinely believe there is still a lot more to come from especially our forward players."
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