2002–03 Scottish Third Division

Scottish Third Division
Season2002–03
ChampionsGreenock Morton
PromotedGreenock Morton
East Fife

The 2002–03 Scottish Third Division was won by Greenock Morton who, along with second placed East Fife, gained promotion to the Second Division. East Stirlingshire finished bottom. This season saw Gretna elected to the league, after the dissolution of Clydebank, who merged with Airdrieonians to form Airdrie United, Gretna finished in sixth place in their debut season.

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Location of teams in 2002–03 Scottish Third Division

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion
1 Greenock Morton (C, P) 36 21 9 6 67 33 +34 72 Promotion to the Second Division
2 East Fife (P) 36 20 11 5 73 37 +36 71
3 Albion Rovers 36 20 10 6 62 36 +26 70
4 Peterhead 36 20 8 8 76 37 +39 68
5 Stirling Albion 36 15 11 10 50 44 +6 56
6 Gretna 36 11 12 13 50 50 0 45
7 Montrose 36 7 12 17 35 61 −26 33
8 Queen's Park 36 7 11 18 39 51 −12 32
9 Elgin City 36 5 13 18 33 63 −30 28
10 East Stirlingshire 36 2 7 27 32 105 −73 13
Source: "2002-2003 Third Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-04-29.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Events

In the course of a 3-1 loss to Albion Rovers, East Stirlingshire used four goalkeepers. Starting keeper Chris Todd was taken off injured after only seven minutes to be replaced by Scott Findlay who was sent off for fouling John Bradford 40 yards from goal eight minutes into the second half. Findlay was replaced by Graham McLaren, who was in turn shown the red card when he fouled Charles McLean inside the box to concede a penalty kick. Kevin McCann took over and tipped McLean's penalty effort over the crossbar[1]

Attendance

The average attendance for Scottish Third Division clubs for season 2002/03 are shown below:

Club Average
Greenock Morton 2,333
East Fife 759
Queen's Park 719
Peterhead 712
Stirling Albion 658
Albion Rovers 491
Elgin City 484
Gretna 419
Montrose 376
East Stirlingshire 324

References

  1. ^ Forsyth, Roddy. "Sterling effort by East Fife". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2012..