St Johnstone defender Alan Maybury has declared himself to be ready to step into the extremely big boots of Michael Duberry.
The giant English centre-half has been sidelined by a groin injury he sustained while falling awkwardly during the defeat to Rangers on Sunday.
Duberry’s absence will be a massive blow to the Perth men at a crucial stage of the campaign but Maybury is confident he can come in to help plug the defensive gap. The summer signing from Colchester, who came off the bench to replace Duberry at Ibrox, is likely to be asked to start when Saints host Aberdeen on Wednesday night. He could either go into the middle himself or, more likely, fill in at right-back to allow Dave Mackay to head infield.
The Dons clash is quickly followed by a home game against Hibs on Saturday as the season gathers space going into the spring and Maybury is prepared.
“The injury to big Dubes is very unfortunate,” Maybury said. “He went down and landed on the ball and obviously he felt he couldn’t carry on. I was thrown in and in these circumstances you just have to do your best.
“I have known Dubes for years and he has been massive for us this season. The back four has been playing well as a unit and individually. That’s why I have just been called upon to fill holes.
“However, I am old enough now to forget about moaning. Instead, I get the head down, work hard and try to impress the manager when I am not in the team.
“I am a great believer in working hard and you will get your reward. It can be hard when your match fitness is down a bit. We haven’t been able to get much in the way of bounce games. But I have been doing all the work, including the warm-ups, with the lads because you never know when you will be called upon.
“I felt ready at Ibrox and I am ready to step in again if required.”
Maybury is determined that Saints learn the lessons of Ibrox, where they didn’t play well and lost far too easily.
“Hopefully, we can post better results than that one against Rangers,” he said. “I am not one to dismiss games like that as you can learn from defeats. While we did well enough in patches we lost soft goals and we haven’t been doing that recently.
“We have to pick the bones out of the Ibrox defeat but it’s not about finger pointing. Basically, at crucial moments we didn’t do things right and, while you can get away with it against some teams, you tend to get punished against top sides like Rangers.
“So while we won’t dismiss it we have to move on and we will be ready for the Dons game. A win against Aberdeen would be a huge step towards where we want to go.
“It is a massive week for us and the team is the priority. If it provides me with an opportunity for first-team football that’s a bonus for me.”