James Penrice admits missing out on a place in the Conference League play-offs with Hearts by virtue of goals scored fuelled his fire to help AEK Athens put Aberdeen to the sword.
The full back was a key part of the Jambos side that competed in the revamped group stages of the tournament under Steven Naismith and then Neil Critchley last season, only to crash out after being held to a 2-2 draw by Moldovan minnows Petrocub at Tynecastle.
Hearts picked up seven points from their six matches and were not able to claim a play-off space having scored just six times in that run.
Penrice has found regular minutes hard to come by since his big £2million to Greek giants AEK last summer but showed a timely reminder of what he is all about with a dazzling display against his old Premiership foes on Thursday night.
The 26-year-old hardly gave Alexander Jensen and Adil Aouchiche a sniff down the Dons right and was unlucky not to bag an assist in the rout when Filipe Relvas saw a header come back of the post from Penrice's superb set piece delivery.
And from his own experience, the former Partick Thistle and Livingston star knows how slim the margins are in European football when it comes to racking up the goal tally.
"We could have scored a lot more and that was the message. I know this competition, I missed out by one goal last year so goals are important in it.
"So it was big for us to score as many as possible. I enjoyed that - it was important for me to win this game with Aberdeen being from Scotland.
"But it was also about getting the first win on the board and three points. I was actually really impressed with how Aberdeen started the game, they got into good areas and caused us some problems.
"But then Abou's (Koita's) quality shines through, he got us started and after that I think we grew into the game. Every time I go on the pitch I need to try to do my best to keep the jersey and play as many games as possible. I have to perform.
"We have Olympiacos on Sunday now, a big derby in Greece, and it's going to be massive so we're looking forward to it."
In the lead-up to the game, Aberdeen defender Nicky Devlin had lavished praise on close pal and ex Livi teammate Penrice and the AEK star has now returned the favour by revealing that they explained pleasantries before and afer the game.
"We spoke for 10 minutes there after the game", he added. "Nicky is one of my best pals in football and I always looked up to him when I was at Livingston. He was my captain and done things right.
"He has got his move to Aberdeen and has continued things which is brilliant. I have got so much respect for him.
"I was speaking to him a wee bit during the game and gave him a wee hug afterwards. I wish him all the best with the rest of his career."