By the end of his team's season in a matter of weeks’ time, Annan Athletic winger Chris Johnston could yet have a fair few more accolades to his name.

Having won Annan’s Supporters’ Player of the Year gong on Saturday, the 24-year-old is also one of four nominees for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award for League Two and will find out if he has beaten ex-Annan striker Blair Henderson and Clyde duo David Goodwillie and John Rankin to the award on Sunday.

But with Peter Murphy’s men having already secured a play-off berth ahead of their final match of the regular league campaign at Albion Rovers , with a new record points total in sight this weekend and the possibility of finishing third if Annan win and Edinburgh City lose also possible, it’s team silverware which interests Johnston more than personal recognition.

"The team has been good for me and I’ve been good for the team. I’ve had a lot of assists this year, but only because boys are getting on the end of my crosses," he says.

"It’s been good to get nominated [for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year] but the boys have needed to get on the end of my crosses for me to get recognised, which shows it’s been a real team effort."

Boss Murphy echoed Johnston’s view.

"It’s great for him, great for the club and great for the team," the 38-year-old admits.

"But with the way the team plays, when we pay attentions to the basics and give ourselves the platform to play, it suits our forward-going players. We are now the top goal-scoring team in the league.

"That’s down to Chris Johnston, Tony Wallace, Aidan Smith and all the players, really, who have pitched in with a lot of goals.

"Chris Johnston’s achievement is down to the team getting the best out of him and him getting the best out of the team. I’ll take it as a team achievement, rather than just one for Chrissy Johnston."

Despite being keen to share the plaudits, Johnston clearly has been a key attacking threat for an Annan side who have scored 68 goals in 35 league fixtures - more goals than anyone else in the league this term.

But Johnston, who has chipped in with three goals himself as well as setting them up, admits there are more attacking threats than just himself for Annan’s play-off opponents, who are still yet to be confirmed, to contend with next week.

Johnston emphasises: "There is me, Aidan, Tony and [Christian] Nade all chipping in, you could even say Moxy [Owen Moxon] is quite an attacking player.

"There is also Ross [Fergusson] who is coming back from injury. So, we have a good bunch. We know, if we play well on our day, we are a match for most teams. We have a good team and we are all together, and I think that we know how good we can be on our day.

"We know, going into the play-offs, we are in a good place because we are all being kept on our toes."

Johnston was speaking after Athletic’s 3-2 home win over Cowdenbeath, which came courtesy of a goal from Christian Nade and Aidan Smith’s brace, despite Jordan Allan netting twice when Annan were 3-0 ahead.

On the victory, Johnston admits: “It was a good win. 

“Obviously, we made it hard for ourselves going up a couple of goals before giving away some cheap goals. But a win is a win. It keeps the winning mentality going on the run we are on. So, it’s good.

“It’s always good when we still can kind of grind out wins which we kind of did at the end. We made it hard for ourselves, going up 3-0, and to concede the goals that we did was not good, but it was a good win in the end.”

But fourth-placed Annan have also impressed defensively at times this campaign and have kept six clean-sheets since the turn of the calendar year.

And it was one of the Black and Golds’ defenders, Scott Hooper, who was named Players’ Player and Directors’ Player of the Year at the club’s end-of-season awards evening as coach Alan Casey described him as “one of the best attacking full-backs in the league”.

Casey, a former Carlisle City captain, also said he felt each player in the squad had played their part at some stage this term which perhaps helps to show why Murphy has enjoyed the success that he has this term.

“He has been brilliant for me, to be fair,” former Kilmarnock, Raith Rovers and Dumbarton man Johnston says on Carlisle hero Murphy. “He has been great. 

“In the last couple of years, I have not played a lot of football and he said to me ‘come here, and play every week because I know what you can do’.

"He has given me the licence to enjoy myself. The season is kind of flowing because every game I am enjoying myself. 

“It’s been great and it would be good to top it off by going up because I have loved it here.”