The centre back, who celebrated his 25th birthday last month, was at the heart of a solid defensive performance that saw Dunfermline collect just a second clean sheet in 11 games as they picked up a vital three points against Stranraer to keep their challenge alive.

Nothing but a victory against Brechin City this afternoon (Saturday) will do but he told Press Sport that while the odds are against them, the task they face is not impossible after he was part of an Airdrie side that clawed its way back from being five points adrift at the foot of the league in January to finish four points outside the promotion play-offs.

“Last year at Airdrie we looked dead and buried at the bottom and were 12 points behind the play-offs, and then went on a 16 game run where we were undefeated apart from one against Rangers,” he said. “So there is still a chance for us and I think that it helps that we know our task. It is do-or-die for us - it is in Brechin’s hands but we can only putting the pressure on them and give them a fright. They’ve got difficult games after us against Stenhousemuir, who are battling at the bottom, and Stranraer so they’ll want to wrap it up.

“I thought that we would be higher up than we are but we can’t take anything away from the other teams. On Saturday we were more like ourselves as we got in people’s faces and everyone did the job that was asked of them. We need to do that again on Saturday.” Buchanan, who has been one of the Pars’ most consistent players in an inconsistent campaign, is out of contract in the summer but the popular defender said that there will be no thoughts over his future until the season is over.

He added, “I think it’s only fair to leave the contract side until the end of the season, especially as we’re all here until 31st May anyway. There’s not been any discussions yet and at the moment all our concentration is on the football side of things. We know that we’re at a massive football club and when I signed last summer, I felt privileged to be here because Dunfermline were always in the top league when I was growing up. I still feel that way but what will be will be and I’m sure things will be discussed at the end of the season, which hopefully still has a few extra games to go.”