IAN Miller will look back on his first year as a professional footballer still unsure of what he can achieve in the game.

It's a year to the day that the 23-year-old signed for Ipswich Town, a dream come true for a player who had been playing in the Isthmian League Division One North for Bury Town.

At 22, Miller may have been forgiven for thinking he had missed his chance for a crack at the big time.

But after graduating from university with a degree in sports science and exercise, Miller was lecturing at West Suffolk College when he received a call from Ipswich boss Jim Magilton.

Even before making his Tractor Boys debut, Miller was farmed out to Boston United on loan and in February this year the defender moved to Darlington, where he marked his bow with a goal in a 2-0 win over Boston.

However, it was for his defensive qualities that impressed most as his partnership with David Wheater helped Quakers to the fringes of a play-off place.

It was only after he was recalled by Ipswich - and Wheater returned to Middlesbrough - that Darlington's top-seven bid faltered.

Quakers have Miller until January this time and the defender admits he is still learning about himself as a player.

"I always wanted to play at a higher level but I never in my wildest dreams expected to sign for a Championship club," he admitted.

"I've landed on my feet a little bit at Ipswich and I still need to find my level. I have played 20 minutes of Championship football and I don't know whether I can play at that level and nor does the gaffer.

"As long as I keep putting in good performances at this level it's good for me because I know I can play at this level.

"If I go into the Championship and find it a bit too much then I know that I will just have to drop down. I'm not too big-time to know that I might be out of my depth. But it's a case of sink or swim."

If Miller does fail to make the grade, there is plenty to fall back on.

He added: "If all this goes down the drain at the end of the season then I've got my degree and a lot of footballers don't have that.

"I did enjoy teaching sport and I don't think I'd be doing anything else.

"I couldn't work on the railways or anything like that. Sport is my life and if I hadn't signed pro football then I would have been teaching."

For the time being, Miller's homework will be focused on helping Quakers achieve their first promotion since 1991.

Miller played his part in securing Darlington's fifth clean of the season in last week's convincing 2-0 win over Lincoln City and Quakers go to MK Dons today as League Two leaders.

Miller demonstrated his versatility by filling in for Neil Austin at right-back last weekend and could continue to deputise this afternoon. Penney will have no qualms about selecting the defender against Paul Ince's MK Dons, who are sixth after last week's 3-0 win at Brentford.

"Ian has pace and height," said Penney. "MK Dons are a big side, so we'll have plenty of height at set-pieces."

Darlington have moved their home fixture with Stockport County next month to Sunday, October 14 (2pm), to avoid clashing with England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia the day before.