THOMAS REILLY believes that Kelty Hearts haven't been at their best recently but insists getting the points to clinch the championship is more important.

The former St Mirren midfielder, who made his first start since a January 8 success at Stirling Albion, is keen to wrap up a second successive promotion as soon as possible.

Saturday's home win over Albion Rovers – who Kelty travelled to play their remaining game in hand on Wednesday night, and drew 0-0, after the Press went to print – saw them maintain their 14-point lead over nearest challengers Annan Athletic, which is now 15.

The Galabankies, with seven fixtures left, can now finish on a maximum of 74 points, meaning that three wins for Kevin Thomson's team, after their fifth success on the bounce at the weekend, will be enough to crown them as League Two winners.

"Overall, it's a good three points and, especially at this time of year, that's the most important thing," Reilly told Press Sport.

"I don't think we've played anywhere near as well as we could in that short period of the last month or so, but we've picked up results. When you're winning and you're chasing the league title, that's the most important thing.

"Obviously you want the performances to go with it but, as long as you're winning, then you've got to be happy.

"Chasing the league title, it's not easy. It's a hard thing to do, so you want to get it done as soon as possible. For us, we're only looking at the next game."

The 27-year-old made just his 14th appearance this season, having missed around four months with an ankle injury sustained after the opening day of the league campaign, and is looking forward to playing his part for a squad who have a real sense of togetherness, regardless of who makes the starting line-up.

"I think that's a big part of what the manager and Geordie's (Kevin McDonald, assistant manager) brought together," he continued.

"Of course, you're not happy that you're not playing, but you're happy for the boys that are playing. We're still a squad, we're still striving for the same aim, which is to win the league and to win games. Whether you're playing or not, we're a close-knit group.

"I've been patient. I've been a wee bit unlucky as well with breaking down with injuries, whether it be training, or whether it be in the game I came back at Stirling (in January, which saw Reilly substituted with a knock).

"It was good to get in. I've had to be patient; I know the players that have been playing in midfield are a high calibre, so I have got to be patient, and hopefully I've done enough to keep in the manager's plans to get more minutes."

New Central Park number two McDonald said that Kelty are "not perfect" despite their strong position at the top of the table, and wants to see performance levels improve between now and the final game of the season.

"First half, we were 2-0 up, and we had massive chances as well," he commented.

"We had total control and DJ (goalkeeper Darren Jamieson) did make a save in the first half, yet in the second half, you're relying on him for two massive saves. Even on the back of that, they had shots that went over, free hits from the edge of the box.

"We've massively rode our luck and Albion Rovers will be disappointed.

"We need to be better; we need to be better individually and collectively in terms of managing the game better. We're not perfect and we'll need to learn from it.

"Hopefully, going forward, we can pick up from that because there have been a few occasions where we've been poor at that.

"All the best teams in the world that win titles, they end up needing to grind out results. I do feel we've probably had to grind out a few more over the last few weeks, and performances probably haven't been there.

"Performances need to come back as well to back that up."