Kelty Hearts
Also written as Kelty.
The club
Kelty Hearts were founded in 1975 as Kelty Hearts Amateur Football Club and play at New Central Park, just off Bath Street in Kelty, a former mining village in west Fife. The ground holds 2,181, of which 353 are seated across two stands, with covered enclosures on one side and raised terracing behind both goals. The pitch has been a 3G Greenfields MX synthetic surface since 2015. The club play in maroon shirts, white shorts and maroon socks, and are known as the Maroon Machine.
Recent seasons
Kelty came up through the junior and non-league pyramid quickly. They won the East of Scotland League in 2017/18 with 23 wins and one defeat from 24 matches, moved into the Lowland League for 2018/19, and won it in both 2019/20 (68 points, the season curtailed by the pandemic) and 2020/21 (also curtailed, decided on points per game). Promotion to the SPFL followed through the pyramid play-off in 2021.
Their first season as a senior league club was their best. In 2021/22 they won Scottish League Two at the first attempt with 24 wins, nine draws and three defeats from 36 games, 68 goals scored and 28 conceded, 81 points, finishing 21 clear of runners-up Forfar Athletic.
Four seasons in League One followed. They were eighth in 2022/23 with 40 points (10 wins, 10 draws, 16 defeats), sixth in 2023/24 with 44 points (12 wins, eight draws, 16 defeats) and sixth again in 2024/25 with 44 points (11 wins, 11 draws, 14 defeats). The 2025/26 campaign collapsed: bottom of the ten with 29 points from 36 games, six wins, 11 draws and 19 defeats, 33 goals scored and 62 conceded. They had the longest winless run in the division that season, 12 matches, and the longest losing run, seven. They were relegated automatically and return to League Two for 2026/27, their first season in the fourth tier since 2022.
Honours and landmarks
Scottish League Two champions 2021/22. Lowland League champions 2019/20 and 2020/21. East of Scotland League champions 2017/18. In the junior game they won the East Region Super League in 2014/15 and 2016/17, and were Scottish Junior Cup runners-up in 1998/99 and 2006/07. There is no major national senior trophy.
Record attendance at New Central Park is 2,300, set in 2012 for a testimonial for local player Stefan Winiarski against a Rangers XI. The highest competitive crowd was 2,183 for the Scottish Cup fourth round tie against St Johnstone on 22 January 2022.
Notable scorelines
Record win: 12-1 at home to Peebles Rovers in the East of Scotland League on 24 February 2018. They also beat Vale of Leithen 11-0 at home in the Lowland League on 14 December 2019. No senior-era record defeat is published anywhere I could find, and no all-time record defeat is established.
The result the club is best known for is the Scottish Cup fourth round tie of 22 January 2022, when Kelty, then a newly promoted League Two side, beat the holders St Johnstone 1-0 at New Central Park. They have a habit of taking Premiership scalps in the League Cup group stage too: they beat Hibernian 1-0 in 2024 and knocked Kilmarnock out on penalties in 2025.
Head-to-head notes
Kelty do not publish all-time head-to-head records on their own site, and no published all-time record could be established for any of their 2026/27 League Two opponents. What can be established is recent contact. Kelty last shared a division with Annan Athletic, Edinburgh City, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Stirling Albion and Stranraer in League Two in 2021/22, the season they won the title. They have no recent league history with Clyde, Dumbarton or The Spartans, all three of whom they did not meet in that 2021/22 campaign.
Against Queen of the South, whom they met in the League Cup group in July 2026, the two clubs played four times in League One in 2025/26 and every match produced goals: two 1-1 draws at New Central Park, with Ricco Diack and Sam Fisher scoring, and 2-1 and 3-1 home wins for Queen of the South at Palmerston Park.
Right now (2026/27)
Thomas O'Ware, usually Tam O'Ware, has been manager since 11 April 2025 and survived relegation. Stirling Albion, whom Kelty meet on Boxing Day, are managed by former Scotland international Steven Whittaker, appointed 10 May 2026 in place of the sacked Alan Maybury.
Seven players had signed by late July 2026: goalkeeper Jamie Smith, Callum Hannah, Finn Moffett, Connor McManus, Ryan Shanley, Gordon Walker and the returning Kallum Higginbotham. No fees or contract lengths were published for any of them. On 25 July O'Ware said the squad was still short, telling reporters "we've not got a squad of 17, 18, 19 yet. There'll be three, four bodies coming in in the next seven to 10 days." No senior departures were confirmed in any source I could find.
In Premier Sports Cup Group A, Kelty drew 1-1 away to Queen of the South on 11 July, Ross Cunningham scoring, and took the bonus point by winning the shootout 4-3, Jamie Smith saving three penalties on his competitive debut. They lost 2-0 at home to Queen's Park on 14 July, beat Brora Rangers 3-2 at New Central Park on 21 July with two from Ryan Shanley and one each for James Wallace and Finn Moffett, and lost 3-0 at Pittodrie on 25 July on their first visit to Aberdeen. They finished third in the group on five points. Aberdeen won all four and went through.
The League Two campaign opens away to Forfar Athletic on Saturday 1 August 2026 at 3pm. Clyde visit New Central Park on 19 December, Stirling Albion are away on Boxing Day, Forfar again away on 2 January 2027, and the season ends away at Dumbarton on 1 May 2027.
Sources
https://keltyhearts.co.uk/club/new-central-park/ https://keltyhearts.co.uk/league-cup-campaign-begins-down-in-dumfries/ https://keltyhearts.co.uk/queens-park-await-in-first-ncp-clash-of-the-campaign/ https://keltyhearts.co.uk/mp-aberdeen-v-kelty-25-7-26/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelty_Hearts_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%9322_Scottish_League_Two https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Scottish_League_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Scottish_League_Two https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Scottish_League_Cup_group_stage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Lowland_Football_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%9318_East_of_Scotland_Football_League https://fchd.info/KELTYHEA.HTM https://www.centralfifetimes.com/sport/26402436.kelty-hearts-make-signings-premier-sports-cup-win/ https://www.centralfifetimes.com/sport/26276814.tam-owares-kelty-hearts-signings-aim-league-start/ https://www.centralfifetimes.com/sport/26206424.kelty-hearts-spfl-league-two-fixtures-released-2026-27/
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.