He may have only made one senior start but Alex Peterson is relishing the prospect of tussling with a man who has made hundreds.
The Doncaster-born youngster has an excellent chance of making back-to-back starts for Rovers as they visit promotion chasing Queens Park Rangers this afternoon.
And the chance of a 90 minute battle with Richard Dunne is something he does not want to miss out on.
“I love a scrap with centre halves like that,” the 19-year-old said.
“I’ll fight with them all day.
“I’ll do my job, work for the team and battle.”
Peterson gave as good as he got in an intense battle with Millwall’s Mark Beevers on his first start for Rovers on Sunday.
He may now firmly be a part of Paul Dickov’s matchday squad but the Dunsville teenager still cannot quite believe it.
He said: “I wouldn’t have thought it would have turned out like this at the beginning of the season.
“I always set high expectations and demand the best from myself.
“At the start of the season I set out to push for a place on the bench, then to get on and then to start.
“But I’m surprised how quickly things have happened and I’m really happy.
“The gaffer has always said if you try hard and work for him he’ll give the young lads a chance and he’s shown that.
“I felt good after coming on in the Ipswich game, I felt confident and that continued against Millwall.
“I worked hard, put myself about and I thought I did what the manager asked of me.
“I felt I could have got on the ball a bit more but I’ll work on things in training.
A major boost for Peterson’s confidence came from the fact he was not selected due to injury.
In fact, Dickov was assured enough from Peterson’s substitute cameos that he could drop Federico Macheda and Theo Robinson in order the start the youngster.
“The gaffer told me I was in there for a reason, because of how I’ve been training and playing,” Peterson said.
“That makes it an extra bit special for me.
“It’s not been thrown in for injuries or suspensions.
“The whole experience was quite different, mainly because preparations before the game changes when you’re starting.
“You’ve been told of what’s expected of you and you’ve got to get yourself ready the night before.
“Walking onto the pitch and waiting for the whistle, you’re nervous for it but excited.”
Peterson says Rovers will draw plenty of confidence from the fact they beat today’s opponents QPR earlier in the season.
And he insists there is no reason why they cannot do it again.
Peterson said: “We know we can beat any team as we proved when we played QPR at home.
“We’re going to be up against the same players and if we work as a team we’ve got every chance of doing it again.
“They’re a good team and they’re up there for a reason but there’s no reason why we can’t beat them again.
“We all felt good after getting the point against Millwall and I think we can get a result.”