Hayden Coulson aims to kick on with Aberdeen after capping a whirlwind week by making his debut against Celtic at Parkhead.
Coulson was thrown straight into the Dons side by manager Jim Goodwin for their opening league game, playing all 90 minutes of their 2-0 defeat.
It came just days after the left-back joined the Reds on a season-long loan from Middlesbrough.
Coulson has found himself out of the picture at the Riverside in the last 12 months, having spent time on loan with Ipswich Town and Peterborough last season.
The 24-year-old is excited about the challenge of establishing himself at Pittodrie.
Coulson said: “I was glad to get everything sorted and I got a good week’s training.
“For me personally, it was nice to get the first 90 minutes into my legs and get the cobwebs off.
“I have got the first game out of the way and I felt fine through the 90 minutes. Now it’s time to crack on.
“It’s a huge club. I needed somewhere I was going to consistently play and show what I can do.
“This feels like a place where I can progress.
“The Scottish Premiership is a good league and it’s good to play against Celtic and Rangers and Hearts and teams like that.
“The manager just wants me to be fit, physical and do my normal game. The main thing for me is to injury free and I am going to enjoy working for the manager, because he is a good man.”
‘You can’t start like that at Celtic Park’
Aberdeen were hit by an early blow when Celtic took a third minute lead through Stephen Welsh.
Although the Dons gradually settled into the match, they ultimately came undone when Jota netted a sublime second goal late on.
Coulson bemoaned his side’s poor start, but felt the Reds did well to stem the early tide coming their way.
The Englishman added: “Obviously, as a team, you can’t start like that at a place like Celtic Park.
“I thought we grew into the game and we created a couple of chances, but it just wasn’t our day.
“You could definitely see that teams could go there and be 3-0 or 4-0 down inside 15 minutes.
“But we showed spells that can progress in the season and do well.”
Coulson hopes to get on front foot against Buddies
Next up for the Dons is a home match against St Mirren on Saturday.
The Buddies are also yet to get off the mark this term, after falling to a 1-0 loss against Motherwell in their opening league fixture.
Coulson hopes his side can embrace the opportunity of more possession than they were afforded in their trip to Celtic.
He added: “We showed what we can do, especially on the counter, although I don’t think we’ll play like that against most teams.
“Obviously, Celtic will have the majority of the ball. For the rest of the season, we would like to play and do what they did to us.
“I think we showed that in spells on the counter attack, where if one of those goes in it could be a different game.
“There are a few new players who have come in. I’ve only been here a week, but I know a few of the lads have a good couple of games together now and I think we have gelled well.
“Now we look to kick-on this Saturday.”
Conversation