2017–18 Scottish League One

Scottish League One
Season2017–18
ChampionsAyr United
PromotedAyr United
Alloa Athletic
RelegatedQueen's Park
Albion Rovers
Matches played180
Goals scored578 (3.21 per match)
Top goalscorerLawrence Shankland
(26 goals)[1]
Biggest home winArbroath 7–1 Airdrieonians[2]
(21 October 2017)
Biggest away winEast Fife 0–5 Raith Rovers[2]
(26 August 2017)
Forfar Athletic 0–5 Arbroath[2]
(16 September 2017)
Queen's Park 0–5 Raith Rovers[2]
(16 September 2017)
Forfar Athletic 0–5 Ayr United[2]
(21 October 2017)
East Fife 0–5 Arbroath[2]
(14 April 2018)
Highest scoringEast Fife 5–4 Albion Rovers[2]
(14 October 2017)
Longest winning run8 matches:[2]
Ayr United
Longest unbeaten run12 matches:[2]
Ayr United
Longest winless run10 matches:[2]
Forfar Athletic
Longest losing run7 matches:[2]
Albion Rovers
Highest attendance4,496[2]
Raith Rovers 0–0 Alloa Athletic
(28 April 2018)
Lowest attendance167[2]
Albion Rovers 1–2 Arbroath
(27 March 2018)
Total attendance149,668[2]
Average attendance831[2] ( 266)
All statistics correct as of 28 April 2018.

The 2017–18 Scottish League One (known as Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017.[3]

Ten teams contested the league: Airdrieonians, Albion Rovers, Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, East Fife, Forfar Athletic, Queen's Park, Raith Rovers and Stranraer.

Prize money

In April 2018, the SPFL confirmed the prize money to be allocated to the league members at the conclusion of the competitions. The League One winners would receive £119,000 with a total pot of £24.5 million to be distributed across the four divisions.[4]

Teams

The following teams changed division prior to the 2016–17 season.

Stadia and locations

Airdrieonians Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath
Excelsior Stadium Cliftonhill Recreation Park Gayfield Park
Capacity: 10,101[5] Capacity: 1,238[6] Capacity: 3,100[7] Capacity: 6,600[8]
Ayr United
East Fife
Somerset Park Bayview Stadium
Capacity: 10,185[9] Capacity: 1,980[10]
Forfar Athletic Queen's Park Raith Rovers Stranraer
Station Park Hampden Park Stark's Park Stair Park
Capacity: 6,777[11] Capacity: 51,866[12] Capacity: 8,867[13] Capacity: 4,178[14]

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Airdrieonians Scotland Stevie Findlay Scotland Marc Fitzpatrick[15] Under Armour Holemasters[16]
Albion Rovers Scotland Brian Kerr Scotland Gary Fisher Adidas Reigart Demolition
Alloa Athletic Republic of Ireland Jim Goodwin Scotland Andy Graham[17] Pendle The Energy Check[18]
Arbroath Scotland Dick Campbell Scotland Mark Whatley[19] Pendle[20] Megatech[20]
Ayr United Scotland Ian McCall Scotland Ross Docherty[21] Adidas[22] Bodog[22]
East Fife Scotland Darren Young Scotland Kevin Smith[23] Joma W Glendinning Haulage Contractors (Home)
EF Joinery (Away)
Forfar Athletic Scotland Jim Weir South Africa Michael Travis Pendle Orchard Timber Products
Queen's Park Scotland Gus MacPherson Scotland Sean Burns[24] Under Armour Irn-Bru
Raith Rovers Scotland Barry Smith Scotland Kyle Benedictus Puma[25] valmcdermid.com (Home)[25]
Tag Games (Away)[25]
Stranraer Scotland Stephen Farrell Scotland Scott Robertson Stanno Stena Line[26]

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Albion Rovers Scotland Darren Young Contract expired 6 May 2017[27] Pre-season Scotland Brian Kerr 8 May 2017[28]
Raith Rovers Scotland John Hughes Resigned 13 May 2017[29] Scotland Barry Smith 29 May 2017[30]
East Fife Scotland Barry Smith Signed by Raith Rovers 29 May 2017[30] Scotland Darren Young 3 June 2017[31]
Airdrieonians Scotland Mark Wilson Resigned 17 June 2017[32] Scotland Willie Aitchison 4 August 2017[33]
Airdrieonians Scotland Willie Aitchison Sacked 19 August 2017 5th Scotland Stevie Findlay 29 September 2017[34]
Forfar Athletic Scotland Gary Bollan Sacked 18 September 2017[35] 10th Scotland Stuart Balmer
Scotland Barry Sellars
(joint-interims) 		18 September 2017[35]
Forfar Athletic Scotland Stuart Balmer
Scotland Barry Sellars
(joint-interims) 		Interim ended 1 October 2017[36] 10th Scotland Jim Weir[36] 1 October 2017

League Summary

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Ayr United (C, P) 36 24 4 8 92 42 +50 76 Promotion to the Championship
2 Raith Rovers 36 22 9 5 68 32 +36 75 Qualification for the Championship play-offs
3 Alloa Athletic (O, P) 36 17 9 10 56 43 +13 60
4 Arbroath 36 17 8 11 70 51 +19 59
5 Stranraer 36 16 5 15 58 66 −8 53
6 East Fife 36 13 3 20 49 67 −18 42
7 Airdrieonians 36 10 11 15 46 60 −14 41
8 Forfar Athletic 36 11 5 20 40 65 −25 38
9 Queen's Park (R) 36 7 10 19 42 72 −30 31 Qualification for the League One play-offs
10 Albion Rovers (R) 36 8 6 22 57 80 −23 30 Relegation to League Two
Source: SPFL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Leader - Promotion to 2018–19 Scottish Championship
Qualification to Championship play-offs
Qualification to League One play-offs
Relegation to 2018–19 Scottish League Two
Team \ Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Ayr United 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1
Raith Rovers 6 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2
Alloa Athletic 5 9 6 7 6 7 7 8 8 7 6 3 3 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 5 5 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 3
Arbroath 2 3 4 3 6 3 2 4 5 3 4 5 4 3 3 4 5 5 5 4 4 3 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 4
Stranraer 4 7 8 8 5 4 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 6 6 3 4 4 5 5 4 3 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5
East Fife 8 4 3 6 7 6 5 5 4 5 3 4 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6
Airdrieonians 7 8 5 4 4 8 8 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Forfar Athletic 3 6 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 8 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Queen's Park 9 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9
Albion Rovers 10 5 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 4 5 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10

Source:[citation needed]
Updated: 28 April 2018

Results

Teams play each other four times, twice in the first half of the season (home and away) and twice in the second half of the season (home and away), making a total of 36 games.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 28 April 2018
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Scotland Lawrence Shankland Ayr United 26
2 Scotland Alan Trouten Albion Rovers 20
3 Scotland Craig Moore Ayr United 19
4 Scotland Ryan Wallace Stranraer/Arbroath 16
5 Scotland Lewis Vaughan Raith Rovers 15
6 Australia Chris Duggan East Fife 14
7 Scotland Michael Moffat Ayr United 11
Scotland Greig Spence Raith Rovers
9 Scotland Danny Denholm Arbroath 10
Scotland Liam Buchanan Raith Rovers
Scotland Scott Agnew Stranraer

Source:[1][37]

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Ref
Scotland Craig Moore Ayr United Albion Rovers 5–1 6 August 2017 [38]
Scotland Ryan McCord Arbroath Stranraer 6–2 23 September 2017 [39]
Scotland Michael Moffat Ayr United Forfar Athletic 5–0 21 October 2017 [40]
Scotland Ross C. Stewart Alloa Athletic Arbroath 5–3 6 March 2018 [41]
Scotland Lawrence Shankland Ayr United Queen's Park 4–0 24 March 2018 [42]

Discipline

Player

Club

Attendances

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Raith Rovers 33,954 4,496 1,260 1,886 −28.3%†
2 Ayr United 28,596 2,441 1,139 1,588 −14.9%†
3 Arbroath 13,904 1,110 600 772 +6.3%†
4 Airdrieonians 13,832 1,129 450 768 −7.5%†
5 Queen's Park 12,376 1,233 428 687 +6.7%†
6 East Fife 12,301 1,850 390 683 +9.1%†
7 Alloa Athletic 11,663 1,749 363 647 +21.8%†
8 Forfar Athletic 11,133 990 428 618 −3.1%†
9 Albion Rovers 8,219 1,032 167 456 +1.6%†
10 Stranraer 7,967 1,143 201 442 +8.1%†
League total 149,668 4,496 167 831 +47.1%†

Updated to games played on 28 April 2018
Source: [2][45]

Awards

Monthly awards

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Ref.
Manager Club Player Club
August Scotland Barry Smith Raith Rovers Scotland Lewis Vaughan Raith Rovers [46]
September Scotland Brian Kerr Albion Rovers Scotland Ryan McCord Arbroath
October Scotland Ian McCall Ayr United Scotland Michael Moffat Ayr United
November Scotland Ian McCall Ayr United Scotland Lawrence Shankland Ayr United
December Scotland Barry Smith Raith Rovers Scotland Alan Trouten Albion Rovers
January Scotland Dick Campbell Arbroath Scotland Angus Beith Stranraer
February Scotland Dick Campbell Arbroath France Willis Furtado Raith Rovers
March Scotland Ian McCall Ayr United Scotland Lawrence Shankland Ayr United

League One play-offs

The second bottom team entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th placed teams in League Two.

Semi-finals

First leg

1 May 2018 Stenhousemuir 1–1 Queen's Park Stenhousemuir
19:30 Scott 27' BBC Report Leitch 47' Stadium: Ochilview Park
Attendance: 657
Referee: Alan Newlands
2 May 2018 Stirling Albion 0–1 Peterhead Stirling
19:45 BBC Report Robertson 29' Stadium: Forthbank Stadium
Attendance: 729
Referee: Colin Steven

Second leg

5 May 2018 Queen's Park 1–2
(2–3 agg.)		 Stenhousemuir Glasgow
15:00 McLauchlan 41' BBC Report McGuigan 17, 80' Stadium: Hampden Park
Attendance: 948
Referee: Euan Anderson
5 May 2018 Peterhead 3–0
(4–0 agg.)		 Stirling Albion Peterhead
15:00 Robertson 38'
McAllister 57'
Brown 65'		 BBC Report Stadium: Balmoor Stadium
Attendance: 861
Referee: Barry Cook

Final

First leg

9 May 2018 Stenhousemuir 2–0 Peterhead Stenhousemuir
19:45 Dunlop 61', 76' BBC Report Stadium: Ochilview Park
Attendance: 796
Referee: Gavin Duncan

Second leg

12 May 2018 Peterhead 1–0
(1–2 agg.)		 Stenhousemuir Peterhead
15:00 McLean 54' BBC Report Stadium: Balmoor Stadium
Attendance: 880
Referee: Greg Aitken

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