2016–17 Lowland Football League

Lowland League
Season2016–17
ChampionsEast Kilbride
RelegatedPreston Athletic
Matches played240
Goals scored875 (3.65 per match)
Top goalscorerDavid Grant (East Stirlingshire)
(35 goals)
Biggest home winThe Spartans 9–1 Hawick Royal Albert
(29 October 2016)[1]
Biggest away winGala Fairydean Rovers 1–10 East Stirlingshire
(3 December 2016)[1]
Highest scoringCivil Service Strollers 3–8 East Stirlingshire
(27 August 2016)[1]
Selkirk 7–4 East Stirlingshire
(17 September 2016)[1]
BSC Glasgow 8–3 Preston Athletic
(26 November 2016)[1]
Gala Fairydean Rovers 1–10 East Stirlingshire
(3 December 2016)[1]
Longest winning run14 matches:
East Kilbride
Longest unbeaten run14 matches:
East Kilbride
Longest winless run7 matches:
Preston Athletic
Longest losing run6 matches:
Preston Athletic & Selkirk
All statistics correct as of 1 April 2017.

The 2016–17 Scottish Lowland Football League (known as the Ferrari Packaging Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Edinburgh City were the defending champions but could not defend their title after being promoted to Scottish League Two.

East Stirlingshire became the first club to join the league via relegation from the SPFL, having lost the League Two play-off against Edinburgh City. Threave Rovers declined the opportunity to re-apply for membership following their bottom place finish the previous season and instead rejoined the South of Scotland Football League.[2] Hawick Royal Albert and Civil Service Strollers joined the league from the East of Scotland Football League to bring the number of clubs to 16 for the first time.

The league was won with two matches still to play by East Kilbride on 1 April 2017 after they defeated Gala Fairydean Rovers 6–1. East Kilbride defeated the winners of the 2016–17 Highland Football League (Buckie Thistle) in the League Two play-offs semi-finals, but lost to Cowdenbeath on penalties in the final.

Teams

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Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Lowland Football League

The following teams have changed division since the 2015–16 season.

To Lowland League

Transferred from East of Scotland League

Relegated from League Two

From Lowland League

Promoted to League Two

Relegated to South of Scotland League

Team Location Stadium Capacity Seats Floodlit
BSC Glasgow Glasgow Lochburn Park 1,800 205 Yes
Civil Service Strollers Edinburgh Christie Gillies Park 1,569 TBC No
Cumbernauld Colts Cumbernauld Broadwood Stadium 7,936 7,936 Yes
Dalbeattie Star Dalbeattie Islecroft Stadium 4,000 250 Yes
East Kilbride East Kilbride K Park 660 400 Yes
East Stirlingshire Stenhousemuir Ochilview Park 3,746 626 Yes
Edinburgh University Edinburgh New Peffermill Stadium 1,100 100 Yes
Gala Fairydean Rovers Galashiels 3G Arena, Netherdale 5,500 495 Yes
Gretna 2008 Gretna Raydale Park 3,000 1,318 Yes
Hawick Royal Albert Hawick Albert Park 1,000 500 Yes
Preston Athletic Prestonpans Pennypit Park 4,000 313 Yes
Selkirk Selkirk Yarrow Park 1,000 100 to be
The Spartans Edinburgh Ainslie Park 3,000 504 Yes
Stirling University Stirling Forthbank Stadium 3,808 2,508 Yes
Vale of Leithen Innerleithen Victoria Park 1,500 0 No
Whitehill Welfare Rosewell Ferguson Park 4,000 150 No

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 East Kilbride (C) 30 24 3 3 89 21 +68 75 Qualification for the League Two play-off semi-finals
2 East Stirlingshire 30 21 5 4 107 43 +64 68
3 The Spartans 30 17 5 8 69 30 +39 56
4 Stirling University 30 16 5 9 60 53 +7 53
5 Dalbeattie Star 30 14 5 11 60 50 +10 47
6 Cumbernauld Colts 30 13 8 9 51 43 +8 47
7 BSC Glasgow 30 12 6 12 63 56 +7 42
8 Whitehill Welfare 30 13 1 16 53 64 −11 40
9 Gretna 2008 30 12 4 14 44 65 −21 40
10 Gala Fairydean Rovers 30 11 7 12 55 77 −22 40
11 Edinburgh University 30 10 7 13 40 42 −2 37
12 Civil Service Strollers 30 10 7 13 59 68 −9 37
13 Vale of Leithen 30 11 4 15 52 66 −14 37
14 Hawick Royal Albert 30 8 1 21 58 93 −35 25
15 Selkirk 30 6 5 19 58 86 −28 23
16 Preston Athletic (R) 30 5 1 24 41 102 −61 16 Relegation to the East of Scotland League
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away BSC CSS CUM DBS EKB EST EDU GFR G08 HRA PRA SEL SPA SLU VOL WHW
BSC Glasgow 2–1 1–1 2–3 1–1 0–6 0–0 2–3 2–0 3–1 8–3 1–1 1–2 4–1 2–0 3–0
Civil Service Strollers 3–1 1–1 4–2 1–1 3–8 2–1 3–3 1–2 0–5 3–1 5–2 2–2 1–2 2–4 0–2
Cumbernauld Colts 4–3 1–0 3–0 0–2 3–3 2–0 1–1 1–3 1–1 5–0 1–2 2–0 0–3 1–3 2–1
Dalbeattie Star 3–2 2–2 2–0 0–3 2–2 1–2 2–0 1–3 7–1 2–3 5–1 4–3 0–1 2–0 2–0
East Kilbride 3–1 4–0 0–1 3–0 1–0 2–0 3–1 3–0 2–1 4–0 6–0 2–0 5–0 4–2 4–1
East Stirlingshire 3–0 3–3 4–1 2–1 3–2 1–1 3–0 5–0 3–1 6–2 5–0 1–4 4–1 2–2 3–0
Edinburgh University 1–3 0–0 2–0 0–1 0–4 0–1 0–1 3–4 2–1 4–0 3–2 0–0 1–3 1–1 2–0
Gala Fairydean Rovers 2–1 3–2 2–2 2–4 1–6 1–10 1–3 1–0 5–1 3–1 1–1 3–2 2–2 4–2 2–3
Gretna 2008 1–3 0–4 1–1 1–0 1–5 0–3 0–0 1–1 2–0 5–3 1–1 0–3 0–3 3–0 3–1
Hawick Royal Albert 2–3 2–5 4–3 2–4 2–4 2–4 4–3 4–1 1–3 3–0 4–3 0–4 0–1 3–1 2–3
Preston Athletic 1–1 3–4 0–2 1–4 0–5 1–7 0–3 3–4 1–2 2–1 3–2 0–2 4–3 0–3 0–2
Selkirk 4–0 1–3 1–3 3–1 2–2 7–4 2–3 7–1 1–2 0–3 0–3 0–6 2–4 6–0 2–4
The Spartans 2–1 3–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 4–1 9–1 2–1 3–0 0–1 2–2 2–0
Stirling University 1–1 2–1 2–2 0–0 1–3 0–2 1–0 1–0 4–2 7–2 5–3 3–3 0–3 0–4 3–0
Vale of Leithen 2–6 1–2 1–2 1–1 1–2 2–4 1–0 2–3 3–1 4–3 3–1 2–1 1–6 0–1 2–1
Whitehill Welfare 1–5 4–0 0–3 2–2 0–3 2–5 1–3 5–3 5–1 3–1 4–1 3–1 1–0 4–0 0–2
Source: SLFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Lowland League play-off

A play-off was due to take place between the winners of the 2016–17 East of Scotland Football League (Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale) and the 2016–17 South of Scotland Football League (Edusport Academy). However Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale did not meet the required licensing criteria therefore Edusport Academy were promoted automatically to replace Preston Athletic.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Ltd, Statto Organisation. "Scottish Lowland League 2016-2017 Season Summary - Statto.com". Statto.com. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  2. ^ Gillespie, Stuart (5 June 2016). "Threave Rovers' South of Scotland League return confirmed after three years in the Lowland League". Daily Record. Retrieved 10 August 2016.