KELTY HEARTS have completed a signing coup by snapping up Inverness Caledonian Thistle forward Nathan Austin.
The 25-year-old, who has also played for East Fife and Falkirk, was one of six new players unveiled by the club at New Central Park yesterday (Sunday).
👀✍️| Welcome to Kelty Hearts @DylanEaston31 @thomasreilly994 @Fash_Austin94 @ross_jardine99 @Scott_linton11 @DannyAshe1 ⚽️🇱🇻❤️ More pics and interviews on KHTV will be up through the day. pic.twitter.com/J9tfKT3CF4
— Kelty Hearts Football Club (@KeltyHeartsFC) May 19, 2019
Forfar Athletic pair Dylan Easton and Thomas Reilly, East Fife defender Scott Linton, Whitehill Welfare goalkeeper Ross Jardine, and East Stirlingshire captain Danny Ashe will also play in maroon next season as Barry Ferguson attempts to mount a challenge for the Lowland League title.
Kelty, who finished third in their maiden season in the fifth tier, have lost skipper Shaun Greig to retirement, while stopper Scott Christie and long-serving forward Scott Dalziel have moved on.
Ferguson, who previously said that he has completed "most of the business" he was looking for, has brought in four players with SPFL experience, with Austin perhaps the most eye-catching of the quartet.
Would just like to wish everyone at @ICTFC all the best for future! Really enjoyed my time at the biggest club in the highlands! I have no doubt that they will be back in that top league very soon! Much love fash pic.twitter.com/rppCq3fGhe
— Fash (@Fash_Austin94) May 19, 2019
After beginning his career with East Fife, where he scored 43 goals in 107 games, he won a move to Falkirk in 2016 and hit the net 12 times in 44 appearances.
In January of last year, he headed for the Highlands to sign for John Robertson's Inverness and was part of the side that lost to Dundee United in the Premiership play-off semi-finals last midweek.
He scored 13 goals in 48 appearances for the Caley Jags, the last of which came against Dunfermline on the final day of the regular Championship season earlier this month.
Austin will be joined at New Central Park by Easton, who previously played under Ferguson at Clyde, and Reilly, who played 35 and 42 games respectively as Forfar reached the Championship play-off semi-finals, where they were beaten 3-2 by Raith Rovers on aggregate.
Linton is Kelty's fourth signing from an SPFL club, having played for East Fife last season, and can count the likes of Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton and Clyde amongst his former clubs.
We will have more on this story in this week's Press Sport.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here