Taylor salivating at

WITH Viking Stavanger standing between Aberdeen and a place in the Europa League third qualifying round, Ash Taylor understands that his undivided attention has to be on the one-off match in the SR-Bank Arena in Norway on Thursday night.

But the Pittodrie defender admitted last week the chance to take on Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon in the 50,000-capacity Stade Alvalade the following week if his side go through is an appealing one and gives them an added incentive to do well.

“The prospect of playing Sporting Lisbon in the next round is mouthwatering and a huge motivator,” said Taylor. “It’s something to look forward to if we can get through.

“You want to pit yourself against the European big boys and they are certainly one of them with their history. You want to play against those good players, so it’s something that we are looking forward to. But it will be the same for them so we’ll have to make sure we do our jobs.

“First and foremost we need to win this tie. As players, you have just got to look at the next game and focus on that because if you take your eye off it that’s where you can get caught out.”

The centre-half confessed the chance to play in continental competition against such renowned opposition was part of the reason he agreed to return to Aberdeen last summer after two seasons at Northampton Town.

He suffered an injury in the meeting with Chikhura Sachkhere in Albania last term and then missed the re-match and the double-header with Rijeka of Croatia as a result.