MacMillan wants a fight

"I still think that we can do it. We have been very very unlucky since I have been here.

Jordan MacMillan picked up a knock in the match against Inverness Caley Thistle on 18th February, he played on with it but even after doing that, fortunately he was fit to resume two weeks later. The 23 year old defender was thankful that the Pars physio Kenny Murray made him rest :-

"It was most important to get back fit and if I had played in the games that I've missed, I might have done a lot more damage so I am grateful that I never did that."

It will be one game at a time now for Jordan as, like the rest of the squad, he sees the next eight SPL games as 'massive'. But having left Rangers after a period of 12 years, Jordan accepts that he has landed up in a relegation dog fight with Dunfermline:-

"I am actually glad that I am here. The turmoil at Ibrox is well documented, I feel sorry for the boys and the people who might lose their jobs but I am not there any more. I am here to play and do well for Dunfermline."

A product of the youth system at Rangers, Jordan saw the likes of Ross McCormack, Chris Burke, Alan Hutton leave as the greatest successes. Andrew Shinnie at Inverness is one of Jordan's contemporaries. Gregg Wylde who recently left Rangers, Danny Wilson, Jamie Ness and John Fleck all evidence the success of investment in youth. Jordan continued:-

"People perceive Murray Park as a failure but if you took those boys, they could be starting at SPL clubs outside Rangers and Celtic. I was offered a new three year deal but didn't accept it because I wasn't playing enough games.

"I enjoyed every bit of my time there but I wasn't going to go another two or three years sitting on the bench thinking 'maybe, maybe.'"

His current manager Jordan claims, was a major factor in his decision to come to East End Park. Macca revealed a vision of where he saw Jordan fitting into the Dunfermline team and the Glasgow born player recognises that there is life outside Rangers:-

"You have to see yourself moving on, that's part and parcel of football. I left on good terms."

Loan periods at Queen of the South, Hamilton and Wrexham gave Jordan good experiences with working with Billy Dodds and Gordon Chisholm at Queen of the South rated as his best.

"I never should have gone to Wrexham because when I went down there, they were playing very well and kicked on to the play offs. They had a team there that was solid and the gaffer was honest enough to say to me after I arrived that he had brought me there to push up the competition for places."

Jordan now knows that he was in a comfort zone at Rangers but admits that what he had surrounding him was all he knew:-

"If I had learned my trade at a Dunfermline, a Hibs or Hearts and got my move then I might have appreciated it more. I was not brought up that way, I am here to work hard because you only get out what you put in."

Life at Dunfermline certainly cannot be comfortable for Jordan given the precarious league position but he is optimistic:-

"I still think that we can do it. We have been very very unlucky since I have been here. Even in the Rangers game we started really well; we created and scored to go one up. The goal they scored really rocked us. The game against Inverness was exactly the same; we were doing really well then they got a slack goal - the story of our season from what I gather, before I came.

"Against Motherwell - we were solid for an hour but Chris Smith makes a mistake that he will hold his hands up for. It can happen to a goalkeeper but we just went flat after that. It seems like we have just not had the breaks. Obviously coming up, they have got the breaks and won promotion. I hope that we don't go down saying that we were unlucky.  If we are to go down we need to go down fighting and not with a whimper. We just need to get as many points as possible on the board between now and the end of the season. Everybody will be pulling in the same direction."

Kyle Hutton and Jordan MacMillan when they arrived at Dunfermline

A settled team would be an advantage but Jordan knows that all the January signings have inherited the Pars propensity to pick up injuries. Kyle Hutton, Iain Turner and Mark Kerr have all incurred injuries meaning Jim McIntyre has had to deploy a forced to use his entire squad:-

"Even the big clubs all change their teams, it is a rotation thing. There would be a lot of unhappy boys if they were not rotating players and I'd be one of them. But I'm sure if we get a win or even a draw the Manager would stick by his team. We need to get some momentum that has been missing because we have not been getting results."

There are 24 points left to play for and Jordan's confidence comes on the back of matching a good Motherwell team for an hour in the most recent match.

"The gaffer has been good with training and days off. At this time of year we need everybody fresh; we have nearly a completely fit squad now and all to play for. He will have an almost full squad to pick from for the next game - something he has not had at any stage this season."