Harry Milne stole the show as Cove Rangers beat Peterhead 5-2 but manager Paul Hartley concedes it might be hard to keep him.
Milne scored twice and played a hand in two other goals as Cove completed a clean sweep over their north-east rivals with an impressive display.
The full-back has come through the Highland League with Cove and is attracting interest from clubs higher up the pyramid.
Hartley was thrilled with Milne’s performance on Saturday but admits full-time football could be the deciding factor in his future.
“We always want to keep our better players but when good players are available, there’s always a chance you might lose them,” he said.
“One thing we can’t give just now is full-time football. Is it something we want to look towards? Of course. We want to keep our good players and add good players also, to make it stronger and better.
“He was absolutely brilliant. He was our best attacking player. He could have scored a hat-trick and his overall play was magnificent.
“First and foremost he’s a defender but at the top end of the pitch he can create. His energy-levels were terrific. He’s bought into what we try to do, how we play and how we train.”
Full-time football is something Cove aspire towards, particularly if they reach the Championship, but Hartley says the timing needs to be right.
“It probably won’t be this year, just because of circumstances, both Covid and financially,” he added. “The club has got to balance the books and that is more important than anyone else. They have to look after their finances.
“We’ve seen what’s happened to clubs in the past; they can go for it and it really backfires on them. I’ve got total trust in the chairman that where we want to be in the next couple of years, we feel we can be a full-time football club.
“We’ve just got to take small steps to get there.”
Mitch Megginson was also on the scoresheet twice for Cove, with Rory McAllister netting an early penalty to get his side on their way.
Peterhead countered in the first-half through a well-taken goal from Hamish Ritchie and got a consolation from Russell McLean late on.
“I didn’t think we were brilliant in the first half,” said Hartley. “It was disappointing to concede the two goals but some of our combination play was really good.
“For any successful team you’ve got to have strikers that can score goals. We’ve got two of the best in the business at this level. You’re only as good as your front players and ours are excellent.”
For Peterhead manager Jim McInally it was a hard watch at times but he too was fulsome in his praise of Milne.
The defeat keeps Peterhead in eighth place in League One ahead of Montrose visiting Balmoor next weekend.
“I thought we were better than the last time we were here,” said McInally. “They’re a good side and Harry Milne was fantastic. We struggled to cope with him.
“He’s a right good player and I can see why Premiership clubs are looking at him. He was the big difference between the two teams.
“We didn’t defend well enough. Every time they went forward, they looked like they were going to score. We were letting runners go in the middle of the park, which is a wee bit of naivety.
“We just take our medicine and move on to next week.”