Kelty Hearts have taken former Rangers midfielder MacKenzie Strachan on trial with player / boss Michael Tidser set to hold talks with his agent.

The 20-year-old, who left Ibrox in the summer, has been listed on the bench as a trialist in their last three matches, making appearances against Stenhousemuir and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Strachan had a loan spell with Stranraer in League Two last season, making seven appearances, but Tidser said the possibility of signing him would not be straight forward.

"He's been in. I'll be honest with you, finances-wise, our budget's done," he told Times Sport after Saturday's win over Dumbarton.

"I had a chat with him in terms of moving forward, and we're trying to work out something maybe to bring him in, but I'll need to have a chat with his agent and his representatives and see where we're at.

"He's a good lad, he's a good player, it's just a difficult time of the season when he's come in.

"Listen, I've been there myself as a young boy. You need to try and earn your corn, and it's difficult for clubs like us to look after boys when we're a quarter of the way into the season.

"We'll see what happens over the next couple of days, and I'll have a chat with his agent."

Kelty's win over Dumbarton - their first in four league outings - lifted them from sixth to third in the League One table, and they are just two points behind leaders, Alloa Athletic, ahead of Saturday's trip to Annan Athletic.

"I said to them last week (when they drew with Inverness), I said, lads, I don't care about the result. I want us to play the way we play," Tidser said.

"I want a performance because I genuinely believe, if we perform the way we can, we'll win more games than we'll lose, or we'll pick up points.

"Last week we kind of stopped the wee rot that we were on, and then today, obviously getting three points, it sets us up nicely to go down to Annan, and obviously Arbroath come here at home.

"Listen, it's a difficult league. It's notoriously hard. You can see how tight it is but, listen, we'll keep chipping away, we'll keep chipping away.

"We know where we are, we know where we are as a club. We never get too ahead of ourselves, never get too high, never get too low, and it's just about keeping those standards."

Tidser was forced off against the Sons with a hamstring problem but was hopeful that fellow midfielder, and first team coach, Scott Allan, could be fit to return.

He also reported that long-term absentee, Adam Corbett, who has been out since February, has "been back on the grass", and it is hoped he could be doing work with the ball and his team-mates over the next week.

"We'll take our time with him because he's been out for eight, nine months and it's the pubic, pelvic area he's had his operation, so it's up to us to take care of him," Tidser added.

"Adam's a great lad. He really looks after himself - he's super lean. Even just to get him back in terms of his personality and his voice, the boys love him in there, and we've tried to keep his spirits high.

"He'll be a bonus hopefully in the next week or two."