Austin began his career at non-League Saffron Walden Town before joining Leyton Orient in August 1993 for a fee of £1000, for whom he made 119 League and cup appearances in three seasons, scoring four goals.
[4] A firm favourite during his time at Sincil Bank, Kevin was voted number 56 in Lincoln's 100 league legends in June 2007.
[7] Returning to fitness, Austin was loaned to Brentford and also linked up with Trinidad and Tobago, making his one and only appearance for the Warriors in a 1–0 2002 World Cup qualifying win over Panama in Port of Spain in November 2000.
[3] He linked up with his old manager John Beck at Cambridge United but continued to be bedevilled by injury and he agreed to cancel his contract with them in March 2002.
[8] In the summer of 2002, Bristol Rovers appointed John Still as their assistant manager and Still, who had worked with Austin at Lincoln, invited him for pre-season training.
Austin impressed sufficiently to earn a contract and he returned to both full fitness and regular first-team football,[9] making a total of 61 appearances.