Martin Boyle: 'Fantastic' Hibs winger scores twice in first Australia start
- Published
Hibernian winger Martin Boyle was called "a fantastic kid" by Australia coach Graham Arnold after scoring twice on his first start against Lebanon.
The Aberdeen-born 25-year-old, who qualifies due to his Sydney-born father, won his first cap in Saturday's 1-1 draw with South Korea.
He then started the 3-0 win, which marked the 108th and final cap for former Everton midfielder Tim Cahill.
"He's fit into the group so well," Arnold said.
"It was pretty special when we presented him with his debut jersey and he got it from Timmy."
Boyle took only 19 minutes to score his first international goal with a deflected long-range strike, and added a second on 41 minutes after toe-poking in after Milos Degenek's header hit the bar.
He also provided the assist as Matthew Leckie netted the third soon after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Arnold explained that he had decided to approach Boyle, who played for Scotland at under-16 level, after watching him train for Hibs along with Australian internationals Mark Milligan and Jamie Maclaren.
"It was a no-brainer," he said. "To be honest, I didn't have to work too hard to convince him. He was very keen to do it."
Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic was one of several absentees from the Australia team for the Asian Cup warm-up match after picking up a minor knee injury.