KELTY Hearts will face Brora Rangers in the first leg of the Pyramid Play-off semi-final on Saturday April 24, and were given the go-ahead by the SFA to resume full training.

The dates were announced last week but with the Fifers not having been able to train fully, or play since suspension of the non league structure in January, they have been anxious to start preparations for "the biggest tie in the club’s history".

Brora were at least able to train for and play two Scottish Cup ties, due to special dispensation for Highland League clubs playing in the cup, and they saw action against Heart of Midlothian, who they beat in round three, and Stranraer, who they lost to in round four.

Kelty manager, Barry Ferguson, has been desperate to get his players into full training to prepare for what club secretary Gary Grandison described as the "biggest tie in the club’s history", and there was delight at New Central Park last Thursday night when the go-ahead came.

Gary said: “Professional sports exemption was required to allow us to bring the squad back to full training, due to current Scottish Government legislation presently allowing only non-contact training for adult teams, plus the current national travel restrictions.

“The first leg of the play-off ties is scheduled to be played on Saturday April 24, with the requirement for full Covid testing to be in place to allow a return to training, in the interests of player wellbeing, and we knew that with our squad not having not played a match since early January, or trained, it was important to prepare our players in the interests of their physical wellbeing.”

The Covid testing process was adopted by the SPFL League 1 and 2 clubs as part of their re-start process at the end of March, and that will have to be used by both Hearts and Brora in the run-up to the first leg of the play-off.

Kelty's top scorer Nathan Austin is back with the club after spending three weeks on loan with East Fife in League 1 to get some game time after being out of action for almost three months.

The winner of the Kelty v Brora tie will get the opportunity to play the bottom side in SPFL League 2 in May.

Currently Brechin City are at the foot of the table, but it could be an all-Fife shhot-out as Cowdenbeath are only eight points ahead of the Angus side and are battling hard to stay out of the play-off final, which they twice had to negotiate in May 2017 and May 2018.