Aberdeen defender Russell Anderson has been ruled out for six weeks following knee surgery, but Ashton Taylor is confident he can fill the void left by the Dons captain.
Anderson missed the 2-0 victory against Partick Thistle on Saturday after a knee operation to correct a cartilage problem.
Taylor, who impressed alongside Mark Reynolds in the centre of the Aberdeen defence, is now eyeing an extended run of games in the team.
He said: “Russell’s a fantastic player with bags of experience and so has Mark Reynolds but I’ve just got to compete for my place and if I do well on the pitch I’m more than likely to start.
“Coming from Tranmere and the number of games I played, I had it in mind I joined Aberdeen to play football. I was surprised I was thrown-in straight away but they’re a great squad and I’ve settled quickly.
“I feel comfortable, although I did have to adjust. The pace of the game here took me back a bit because it is quite quick, the standard is good and it took me a little while to get used to it.”
The Dons struggled to find the back of the net in their opening Scottish Premiership matches but two sumptuous goals from Nicky Low and Niall McGinn gave the Dons a well-earned victory against Partick.
The international break means the Dons are not back in action until September 13 when they travel to Parkhead to face the champions Celtic.
Taylor added: “Both goals were fantastic and each worthy of winning any game.
“Nicky Low has tremendous ability and he proved it.
“It’s always important to bounce back from a result like the one we had at St Johnstone.
“It was a pleasing performance against Partick from everyone. We had a good few chances in the first half but we all stuck together and kept going and we knew we’d get a goal from somewhere and luckily Nicky hit a screamer and we kicked-on from there.
“Winning the man of the match was just a plus. It was all about our performance, getting a result and bouncing back from last week but I was pleased to get the man of the match champagne.”
Dons manager Derek McInnes said he felt the international break was the ideal time for Anderson to go under the knife to ensure he misses as little game time as possible.
He said: “He had a little tidy-up on his cartilage on Friday. He was getting more and more discomfort and pain from his knee and we felt with the international break on us it was an opportunity to get him sorted. He’ll be back in six weeks.”