GOAL HERO Nathan Austin insists that Kelty Hearts aren’t thinking about when they could be crowned champions and are focused solely on winning each game.

The 27-year-old, who was introduced from the bench with half an hour to play, scored his 20th goal of the season to earn his team a dramatic win with virtually the last kick of the game at Stenhousemuir on Tuesday night.

Having also dug out an important 1-0 derby win at Cowdenbeath on Saturday, in which Joe Cardle’s strike proved decisive, Kevin Thomson’s team are now 14 points clear at the top of League Two.

Closest challengers Annan Athletic have also played a game more, leaving the New Central Park club on the cusp of winning a second successive promotion with nine games to go.

Two of them will take place over the course of the next six days with Albion Rovers – at home on Saturday, and in Coatbridge next Wednesday – and, speaking to Press Sport, Austin said that their priority was to take three points from each game as they come.

“The gaffer’s mentioned that he just wants all wins from now until the end of the season,” he revealed.

“He’s not going to take the foot off the pedal, so that’s just our main target, to keep winning.

“Hopefully we can get over the line, but it’s not about just getting over the line, it’s about keeping the pedal to the metal and keep pushing on.

“We just expect the teams below us to keep winning; they’ve got to try and put pressure on us.

“We’re not expecting them to drop points so we’ve just got to keep winning and see where that takes us.

“It’s not here right now (when they could win the league), so there’s no point talking about it or thinking about it. It’s about taking it a game a time.

“I know it’s a bit of a cliché, we’ve got two big games against Albion coming up, Saturday and Wednesday, and if we get six points against them, it will stand us in good stead.”

The former East Fife, Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle striker was delighted to make such a telling contribution from the bench, and continued: “As a striker, you set out for maybe 15-20 goals at the start of the season. I feel like I’ve been on 19 for about three months now, so it’s good to get over that hurdle! Hopefully, the goals can start coming back and start flowing.

“It was a really tough game and I think we had a few chances. I had a couple of chances after I came on, but we’re delighted.

“The manner we won as well, with a last minute winner – the changing room’s a good place to be at the moment.”

Kevin McDonald, Kelty’s assistant manager, echoed Austin’s sentiments in terms of potentially winning the title, and praised his team’s players for being able to grind out two significant victories in the space of three days.

“Saturday’s game was completely different. There was football played tonight, the ball got slid across the pitch quite a lot, so that’s what suits us.” he said post-match at Ochilview

“The character the team shows is unbelievable to be honest, to keep going and fighting. It get us closer to where we want to get to.

“I’ve been there myself, when you think things are all set up for you, it comes back to bite you. We just need to keep the head down, keep working hard and, when we get over the line, we’ll eventually celebrate it.

“We’re looking for another three points on Saturday. The gaffer said before Saturday’s game that we weren’t looking at five or six wins to win the title. We want 11 wins.

“That’s what we’re aiming for. We’re going to try and keep winning and winning and, hopefully when the season finishes, the gap that there might be, we’ve justified it.

“We’ve been there since day one so we don’t want to win by three or four points to win the league. We want to win by as many as possible.”

McDonald, who revealed he was worried that Austin’s game-winning effort was going to sneak beyond the far post, felt Kelty were deserving winners against the Warriors and was enthused about the collective spirit within the squad.

“Fair play to them; they made it hard work for us. We ground it out and, ultimately, the three points was massive.

“I think we created enough chances. But, the longer it goes, you’re maybe expecting the point and obviously it’s always nice to get a last-minute winner.

“The gaffer said as part of his team talk that we’re all in it together. It’s his thing that we’re all in.

“You can’t have 11 players; you need to have 18-20 players all singing off the same hymn book.

“The players that aren’t playing are just as important as the ones that are, and I think it showed with the celebrations at the end; every single sub was down in the corner celebrating, and were all part of it, so it’s massive for the squad.”

Meanwhile, Kelty’s ex-loan star, Connor Barron, has been called up for Scotland’s under-21s later this month.