Midfielder determined to play his part to help steer the Gills away from the bottom of League 2.
It's been a long and rough road back for popular midfielder Alex MacDonald, but he is finally loving life at MEMS Priestfield again.
During the darkest moments of his nine month recovery from a career-threatening knee injury Macca questioned whether he would ever kick a football again in a professional match.
Thankfully the warrior is back on the battlefield, and it’s fair to say he doesn’t take a moment for granted.
“It’s been great on a personal level to be able to play football again,” said MacDonald. “There were times last year when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to.
“When you have only had negative thoughts in your mind for eight or nine months about whether your career is going to continue, asking yourself, ‘Can I do this?’, ‘Can my body hold up?’, it is hard.
“Touch wood that is all behind me now. I’m hoping I can influence and help the team push up the table. I came off the training pitch today and I said to the boys that I just loved it. I still have the hunger, fight and desire.
“I’m here to help the team the best I can and if that means coming off the bench then so be it. I’m fit and raring to go.”
It hasn’t been the campaign that MacDonald might have wanted or expected, but the midfielder is still confident that the Gills can turn things around, starting with a positive festive period.
“The fans didn’t expect to be in this position,” he said. “Certainly the changing room didn’t expect it and the staff didn’t expect it. The reality is that we are in this position and we have to change that and start pushing up the table. The festive period gives us a chance to do that as the games will come thick and fast. It’s a period we are looking forward to.”
Gillingham’s first opportunity to add some points to their tally is an away trip to Stockport on Saturday. The Hatters sit thirteenth in Sky Bet League Two, a mere five points off the play-off places.
“Stockport are a great club,” said Macca. “They are a big club who have been out of the league for a number of years. They have come back now and shown they are not here to make up the numbers but to make it out of the division.
“We will be prepared. We are going up there looking to put points on the board. We need to cross that white line and produce the performance that we know is in there.”