Scotland internationalist Kevin McDonald admits promotion to the English Premier League with Fulham has capped a memorable personal season.
The former Dundee midfielder helped the Cottagers win the richest game in football with a narrow victory over Aston Villa in Saturday’s play-off final in front of 85,000 fans at Wembley.
Fellow Scotland cap Tom Cairney scored the only goal after 23 minutes although Slavisa Jokanovic’s side faced a nervy ending after Denis Odoi was sent off with 20 minutes left
McDonald’s form in making a total of 46 club appearances was also recognised by national team manager Alex McLeish after the 29-year-old made his Scotland debut in March’s friendly defeat to Costa Rica.
And the former Burnley and Wolves playmaker insists a return to the top-flight wraps up a hugely enjoyable campaign.
He said: “It’s topped off a fantastic season for myself personally and it’s topped off two fantastic seasons at Fulham, I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I‘m looking forward to going again.
“It’s such a fantastic feeling. The day was all about us, we dominated the first half and in the second half we held on but we had ten men for a lot of it.
“Defensively we were fantastic, we should have finished the game off but unfortunately we didn’t, we ground it out and it was a great performance.
“It’s all or nothing out there, there’s no next game, it’s all about the day and how much you want it and we fought for our lives, every single one of us.
“There are too man emotions going on but I’m sure it will sink in soon.”
Speaking to Fulham FC TV, he added: “Throughout the season I’m sure 22 teams out of 24, including ourselves, would agree that we deserved to go up.
“We played some nice football and on Saturday we showed we can grind it out as well.”
