Kelty Hearts midfielder Thomas Reilly feels being awarded the Lowland League title will not carry the same significance if they are denied the opportunity to secure a place in League 2.
The Fife outfit were earlier this week declared champions after the Lowland League board opted to end the season due to coronavirus.
Kelty had a six-point lead with five games remaining, although second-placed Bonnyrigg Rose had a game in hand.
It follows the Highland League’s decision to call its season last month, which saw Brora Rangers handed the title.
With the SPFL board looking to pass a resolution which would end its season with no play-offs, the conventional pyramid route for both Kelty and Brora looks likely to be thwarted.
That would be difficult for Reilly to take, and he said: “It feels we are probably not going to get the credit. We’ve been awarded the league, but you aim to win the league so you can be promoted.
“I don’t really know what more we can do. It just looks like we are being left behind and it’s suiting other clubs who probably haven’t done anywhere near as well as we have this year.
“I personally think we are by far the best in the league, but it’s the same as Brora.
“It doesn’t feel like we are going to be getting the rewards we deserve.”
Former Elgin City midfielder Reilly joined Kelty last summer after leaving League 1 side Forfar Athletic, where he had worked under his previous Black and Whites manager Jim Weir.
The 25-year-old is eager for his club to be rewarded for its ambition, adding: “All you need to do is look at the team that Barry Ferguson assembled to play in the Lowland League.
“We have done really well, we have won 22 games and only lost one game the whole season.
“The effort put in from behind the scenes and the staff is probably more than I’ve seen from any other club I have been at.
“That will probably surprise people because of the league we are in, but where this club wants to go is different from anywhere else. It would be a shame for that to go to waste.
“That’s the reason I went there. I felt like this club was going to win things and wanting to go places.
“I still genuinely believe we will go places. Whether it’s this year, next year or the following year – we will do it, especially with the backing we’ve got the resources and management staff that’s behind us.”
Reilly retains hope of league reconstruction providing a pathway for his side should the SPFL motion pass, and he added: “If we do get denied and we’ve got to go again, there will probably be a lot of happy people. It’s sad, but it doesn’t surprise me.
“We will just hope the same as Brora will, that if the play-off doesn’t happen reconstruction can.
“Even taking Kelty out of it, I think it would probably help Scottish football.
“In a sense nobody loses out of it – everybody either gets to keep their place. Teams that are going to win the league are teams that are still going to be promoted.
“But we can’t be 100% sure on what’s going to happen.”
