Mackay says all Scotland call-ups are deserved
Malky Mackay will start two Aberdeen players for Scotland against Holland as he denied claims he had only selected Dons players to help sell tickets for the Pittodrie encounter.
Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd this week accused Mackay of selecting Graeme Shnnie, Ryan Christie and Kenny McLean in order to boost the crowd.
But the Scotland caretaker manager insisted his only concerns were to pick a team to win the game and prepare for the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
Mackay, who has eight uncapped players in his 22-man squad, said: "When I announced the squad a week to 10 days ago there was a lot of upbeat attention to it in terms of a freshness. I suppose everyone is going to have an opinion about the squad.
"What I would say is that anyone that knows me, knows that when I pick a team, I pick a team to win a game.
"I'm humbled and honoured and proud to be leading the team and making sure that team go out on the pitch and beat Holland. Make no mistake about that, there is no one that I would bring to this squad purely to fill a jersey.
"We are here in Aberdeen, people talked about the Aberdonians in there to sell tickets. Two of the three of them are going to start the game. Am I going to pick players to sell tickets that are going to start the game? I'm not sure about that.
"I've got a real hungry group and every one of them are playing at a very good level.