2017–18 Highland Football League

Press & Journal Highland League
Season2017–18
Dates29 July 2017 – 5 May 2018
ChampionsCove Rangers
(6th title)
Matches played306
Goals scored1,306 (4.27 per match)
Biggest home winBrora Rangers 16–0 Fort William
(2 December 2017)
Biggest away winFort William 0–10 Fraserburgh
(9 September 2017)
Fort William 2–12 Cove Rangers
(31 March 2018)
Highest scoringBrora Rangers 16–0 Fort William
(2 December 2017)
Longest winning run11 matches:
Formartine United
Longest unbeaten run31 matches:
Cove Rangers
Longest winless run34 matches:
Fort William
Longest losing run13 matches:
Fort William
All statistics correct as of 5 May 2018.

The 2017–18 Highland Football League (known as the Press & Journal Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th season of the Highland Football League, and the 4th season as the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. The season began on 29 July 2017 and ended on 5 May 2018. Buckie Thistle were the defending champions.

The previous season's runners-up Cove Rangers won their sixth Highland Football League title after beating Clachnacuddin 5–0 on 7 April 2018. At the time, they were unbeaten with 26 wins from their 29 matches. They defeated the winners of the 2017–18 Lowland Football League (Spartans) in the League Two play-offs semi-finals, but lost to Cowdenbeath 3–2 on aggregate in the final.

Teams

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Location of teams in 2017–18 Highland Football League

All grounds are equipped with floodlights as required by league regulations.

Team Location Stadium Capacity Seats
Brora Rangers Brora Dudgeon Park 4,000 200
Buckie Thistle Buckie Victoria Park 5,000 400
Clachnacuddin Inverness Grant Street Park 3,000 154
Cove Rangers Inverurie Harlaw Park 2,500 250
Deveronvale Banff Princess Royal Park 2,600 360
Formartine United Pitmedden North Lodge Park 2,500 300
Forres Mechanics Forres Mosset Park 2,700 502
Fort William Fort William Claggan Park 4,000 400
Fraserburgh Fraserburgh Bellslea Park 3,000 480
Huntly Huntly Christie Park 2,200 270
Inverurie Loco Works Inverurie Harlaw Park 2,500 250
Keith Keith Kynoch Park 4,000 370
Lossiemouth Lossiemouth Grant Park 3,250 250
Nairn County Nairn Station Park 2,250 250
Rothes Rothes Mackessack Park 2,700 184
Strathspey Thistle Grantown-on-Spey Seafield Park 1,600 150
Turriff United Turriff The Haughs 2,135 135
Wick Academy Wick Harmsworth Park 2,412 102

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or qualification
1 Cove Rangers (C) 34 29 3 2 127 22 +105 90 Qualification to League Two play-off semi-finals
2 Formartine United 34 26 1 7 124 41 +83 79
3 Inverurie Loco Works 34 25 3 6 104 37 +67 78
4 Fraserburgh 34 23 4 7 101 38 +63 73
5 Forres Mechanics 34 23 4 7 88 45 +43 73
6 Brora Rangers 34 20 3 11 87 39 +48 63
7 Buckie Thistle 34 15 6 13 80 56 +24 51
8 Deveronvale 34 16 3 15 73 76 −3 51
9 Nairn County 34 16 3 15 61 71 −10 51
10 Rothes 34 15 4 15 77 70 +7 49
11 Huntly 34 15 4 15 66 81 −15 49
12 Wick Academy 34 12 10 12 67 54 +13 46
13 Clachnacuddin 34 11 8 15 54 69 −15 41
14 Turriff United 34 11 4 19 54 70 −16 37
15 Keith 34 4 4 26 45 104 −59 16
16 Lossiemouth 34 4 3 27 41 125 −84 15
17 Strathspey Thistle 34 4 2 28 26 124 −98 14
18 Fort William 34 0 5 29 31 184 −153 5
Source: Highland Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away BROR BUCK CLAC COVE DEVE FORM FORR FORT FRAS HUNT LOCO KEITH LOSS NAIRN ROTH STRA TURR WICK
Brora Rangers 3–0 2–1 0–1 3–0 0–5 3–0 16–0 1–3 1–0 1–2 3–0 7–0 3–0 2–0 3–0 3–2 2–2
Buckie Thistle 2–2 1–0 0–2 2–3 3–0 1–1 5–0 4–1 4–1 1–3 4–1 6–0 2–3 3–0 1–2 0–0 1–3
Clachnacuddin 3–2 1–1 0–4 3–3 1–3 0–2 2–1 1–2 6–3 0–4 2–1 2–1 3–0 1–0 6–0 0–1 0–0
Cove Rangers 1–0 7–1 5–0 4–1 3–2 0–1 8–0 1–1 5–0 4–0 6–2 2–0 0–3 2–0 3–1 5–1 1–1
Deveronvale 2–3 2–1 3–1 2–3 0–5 0–3 5–0 1–4 4–1 0–2 4–1 2–1 2–1 2–2 4–0 3–4 3–1
Formartine United 3–2 5–0 2–4 0–4 4–4 4–1 12–0 1–0 1–2 5–0 2–0 6–1 5–0 5–0 4–0 3–0 2–1
Forres Mechanics 3–2 1–0 4–1 0–2 3–0 1–4 4–1 2–3 2–3 2–0 5–0 5–0 1–0 3–1 4–1 2–1 2–1
Fort William 0–4 0–7 1–1 2–12 1–5 0–6 1–9 0–10 1–4 1–5 3–3 3–4 0–2 3–4 1–5 3–7 2–2
Fraserburgh 1–1 2–2 4–0 0–1 7–3 0–1 6–1 7–0 7–0 3–1 1–2 2–0 4–1 4–2 3–0 4–0 3–1
Huntly 1–0 1–2 2–2 1–3 1–3 1–2 0–6 4–0 0–2 1–7 5–1 1–1 2–3 3–0 5–1 5–2 3–2
Inverurie Loco Works 2–1 3–0 3–0 1–2 5–1 3–1 0–0 4–0 2–2 6–0 3–2 9–1 4–1 4–0 5–0 0–0 5–1
Keith 0–1 2–5 0–3 0–5 0–2 1–5 3–5 2–1 0–3 1–2 0–3 3–3 2–2 0–3 6–1 1–2 1–1
Lossiemouth 0–2 0–3 2–3 0–7 1–3 0–6 1–3 2–2 1–5 0–2 2–4 3–2 2–3 4–6 3–2 3–0 1–2
Nairn County 0–1 4–1 1–1 0–8 3–0 1–2 2–4 1–0 3–1 2–5 2–3 2–1 6–2 2–4 1–0 3–0 3–2
Rothes 3–1 0–4 6–2 1–1 2–0 3–4 2–2 9–1 0–1 2–2 2–0 3–2 6–0 4–1 3–0 2–5 1–0
Strathspey Thistle 0–7 0–6 2–2 0–8 1–3 0–8 0–3 1–1 1–4 0–2 0–7 2–3 3–2 0–2 0–5 1–2 0–3
Turriff United 0–2 2–2 1–0 0–4 1–3 2–4 1–2 6–2 0–1 1–2 0–1 7–2 1–0 1–2 1–0 1–2 1–2
Wick Academy 2–3 1–5 2–2 1–3 2–0 3–2 1–1 6–0 4–0 1–1 1–3 2–0 6–0 1–1 5–1 3–0 1–1
Updated to match(es) played on 5 May 2018. Source: highlandfootballleague.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-offs

Main article: 2017–18 Scottish League Two § League Two Play-offs

A number of postponements over the winter period resulted in fixture congestion later in the season. As a champion could not be crowned in time, the dates for the semi-finals were pushed back a week.[1] Cove Rangers played 2017–18 Lowland Football League champions Spartans in the League Two play-off, winning 4–0 at home in the first leg. Cove went through on with a 5–2 aggregate win despite losing the second leg 2–1.

This set up a final against Cowdenbeath. The first leg at Harlaw Park finished 0–0 before Cove lost 3–2 in the second leg at Central Park, meaning that Cowdenbeath were victorious on aggregate and retained their place in League Two. Cove would remain in the Highland League.

References

  1. ^ "Pyramid Play-Off dates confirmed". Scottish Football Association. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.