STEPHEN HENDRIE, the Hamilton Academical defender, believes taking some unusual advice from his cousin - former Middlesbrough and Bradford City striker John Hendrie - has helped turn him into a Scotland under-21 regular.

The left-back provided the cross for Cameron King's equaliser for the national side this week in Switzerland to gain the young Scots a decent draw in Thun, and Hendrie will be a key member of the squad for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers which begin next year.

The 19-year-old comes from good footballing family stock - he is the cousin of both former Aston Villa ace Lee Hendrie, who was capped once by England, and John Hendrie, who also had a spells at Newcastle United and played for and later managed Barnsley. The youngster admitted he took heed of the advice given to him by his footballing relatives.

"When they do get in touch it's to say well done," he said. "They always congratulate me for getting a call-up. They always send me messages saying 'well done Stephen.' When John gets time off, he will come up and watch me.

"And when I was at Lee's wedding, John was saying to me to always work hard and your attitude needs to be good. He was advising me to keep away from girls because I was just a young boy! He told me I was too young for that, but when I was older I could get the big fancy cars and the girls . . . so I've definitely stuck to his advice.

"I think John's just doing football coaching in England. Lee is working for Sky Sports News and he's opened up his own football academy."

Although Hamilton have endured a dip in form recently, Hendrie is convinced they will soon be up punching above their weight again, starting with St Mirren tomorrow.

"Every team goes through a lull in the season and we've had ours," he said. "We need the three points."