Fifers boss wants clarity over Austin
East Fife manager Darren Young admits he is desperate to hang on to on-loan star striker Nathan Austin longer than the March 31 deadline presently in place, due to a lack of clarity over when, or if, the Lowland League will come back.
Fans favourite and 2016 League 2 title winner, “Fash” was given his start in senior football by the Methil Men back in 2013 and he returned to the Locality Hub Bayview on a short-term loan from Kelty Hearts 10 days ago.
The 27-year-old made a scoring return when he grabbed the opener in last Saturday’s 3-1 win away to Clyde.
However, his loan is set to expire in three days and Young is looking for answers on whether the Lowland League will resume or whether Austin, who has also played for Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, can stay for longer.
Young said: “We still do not know what is happening with Fash. We have him officially until the end of the month, but no-one seems sure what is happening with their league.
“Hopefully, we will find out soon as we have a really busy schedule coming up.”
“Of course, keeping him is something we would be very keen to do. You just need to look at the impact he had at Clyde. Even just his presence around the place has given everyone a lift.”
“If you see the way he celebrated his goal, it was like he had scored the winner in the World Cup Final, so you can see what the club means to him.”
The Lowland League has been in shutdown since early January and a number of players are in a similar position to Austin, including Chris Erskine and Stephen Bell, who moved to Partick Thistle on a temporary basis from East Kilbride, with Young saying: “Hopefully, something can be agreed to keep players playing at least.”