KYLE HUTTON effectively swopped one turbulent scenario for another when he agreed to leave Rangers to join Dunfermline Athletic on loan at the end of the January transfer window.

It has given him some distance from the ongoing uncertainty at Ibrox with the club in administration and still looking for a buyer, but has plunged him into the midst of a relegation battle for the first time in his career. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Hutton, unfortunate not to score in Saturday's enthralling 4-4 draw at St Mirren, will be a Dunfermline player until the end of the season at which point he hopes to return to Ibrox to see out the remainder of his contract. What shape the club will be in at that point is anyone's guess but there is a more than likely chance that many of the senior players will be sold on, whether or not the club is liquidated. That could open the door for the likes of 21-year-old Hutton to establish himself in a new-look, younger side but it is not a prospect that daunts him.

"I've got two years left on my contract at Rangers so we'll just have to see what happens," said the midfielder. "I wanted to come here to get more experience and then go back and kick on with Rangers. That's my ambition.

"If some of the other guys move on from Rangers in the summer, then that might give a chance to some of the young boys to come into the side. There are some there who could definitely come in and do a job so I'm not too worried about that."

For the next month or so, however, Hutton's focus is all on trying to keep Dunfermline in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and even the temporary recruit insists it means as much to him as the rest of his team-mates.

"That point could still prove to be massive for us," he added. "Hopefully we can win further down the line and be in touching distance with Hibs when we go to play them. This is my first time being involved in a relegation fight and there is that added pressure – every game is like a cup final. People's jobs are on the line.

"Although I'm only on loan I've become quite close with some of the boys and I know how much it would mean to them to stay up in this league. So I'm giving it 100% in every game."

This should have been a landmark day for Steven Thompson as he notched his first ever league hat-trick at the age of 33 but it was ultimately overshadowed by St Mirren's failure to win a match that they seemed to have all sewn up at various points. Danny Lennon's rage was evident in the immediate aftermath, the manager serving notice that he will not accept his players downing tools in the four matches that remain, despite having relatively little to play for.

Craig Samson, the St Mirren goalkeeper, insisted that was never going to happen anyway. He said: "It's good that we know now that we're definitely going to be back in the SPL next season but we're aiming to get as high up the table as we can, not looking down the way."

4' 1-0 Nigel Hasselbaink turns and shoots past Chris Smith

24' 1-1 Jordan McMillan equalises with a left-foot effort

43' 2-1 Steven Thompson climbs to head in Graham Carey's cross

48' 3-1 Thompson, right, gets his second from a Dougie Imrie pass

57' 3-2 David Graham picks his way through before finishing well

67' 4-2 Thompson completes his hat-trick with a ferocious strike

70' 4-3 Liam Buchanan scores from a tight angle

88' 4-4 Andy Kirk prods in