2018–19 Scottish League Two

The 2018–19 Scottish League Two (known as Ladbrokes League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season in the current format of 10 teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the season began on 4 August 2018.[3]

Scottish League Two
Season2018–19
Dates4 August 2018 – 4 May 2019
ChampionsPeterhead
PromotedPeterhead
Clyde
RelegatedBerwick Rangers
Matches played180
Goals scored501 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorerBlair Henderson (30 goals)[1]
Biggest home winQueen's Park 7–1 Berwick Rangers[2]
(26 January 2019)
Annan Athletic 6–0 Berwick Rangers[2]
(6 April 2019)
Biggest away winBerwick Rangers 0–5 Peterhead[2]
(8 December 2018)
Albion Rovers 0–5 Stirling Albion[2]
(26 January 2019)
Highest scoringAlbion Rovers 3–5 Berwick Rangers[2]
(1 September 2018)
Queen's Park 7–1 Berwick Rangers[2]
(26 January 2019)
Longest winning run8 matches:[2]
Edinburgh City
Longest unbeaten run16 matches:[2]
Clyde
Longest winless run19 matches:[2]
Albion Rovers
Longest losing run8 matches:[2]
Albion Rovers
Highest attendance1,371
Peterhead 1–1 Stirling Albion[2]
(27 April 2019)
Lowest attendance145
Albion Rovers 1–1 Annan Athletic[2]
(29 December 2018)
Total attendance90,826[2]
Average attendance504[2] (12)
All statistics correct as of 4 May 2019.

The bottom team entered a two-legged play-off against the winners of the Pyramid play-off between the Highland League and Lowland League champions, to determine which team competes in League Two in the 2019–20 season.[4]

Ten teams contested the league: Albion Rovers, Annan Athletic, Berwick Rangers, Clyde, Cowdenbeath, Edinburgh City, Elgin City, Peterhead, Queen's Park and Stirling Albion.

Peterhead lifted the title after a 2–0 win at Queen's Park on the final day.

Teams

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The following teams changed division after the 2017–18 season.

Stadia and locations

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Albion Rovers Annan Athletic Berwick Rangers Clyde
Cliftonhill Galabank Shielfield Park Broadwood Stadium
Capacity: 1,238[5] Capacity: 2,504[6] Capacity: 4,099[7] Capacity: 8,086[8]
       
Cowdenbeath Edinburgh City
Central Park Ainslie Park[9]
Capacity: 4,309[10] Capacity: 3,000
   
Elgin City Peterhead Queen's Park Stirling Albion
Borough Briggs Balmoor Hampden Park Forthbank Stadium
Capacity: 4,520[11] Capacity: 3,150[12] Capacity: 51,866[13] Capacity: 3,798[14]
       

Personnel and kits

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Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Albion Rovers   Kevin Harper   Bryan Wharton Joma Reigart Demolition
Annan Athletic   Peter Murphy   Scott Hooper Halbro[15] M&S Engineering Ltd[15][16]
Berwick Rangers   John Brownlie   Robert Wilson Mitre[17] Northern Soul Kitchen
Clyde   Danny Lennon   Kevin Nicoll Kappa Advance Construction Group (H)[18]
Rock Regen (A)[19]
Cowdenbeath   Gary Bollan   Kyle Miller Errea Subsea Pressure Controls[20]
Edinburgh City   James McDonaugh   Josh Walker[21] Joma[22] CMC Property[23]
Elgin City   Gavin Price   Darryl McHardy EV2[24] McDonald & Munro[25]
Peterhead   Jim McInally   Rory McAllister Adidas Independent Oilfield Services
Queen's Park   Mark Roberts   Scott Gibson Under Armour Irn-Bru
Stirling Albion   Kevin Rutkiewicz   Ross McGeachie Macron Prudential

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Albion Rovers   Brian Kerr Resigned 7 May 2018[26] Pre-season   John Brogan 22 May 2018[27]
Queen's Park   Gus MacPherson Left for St Mirren 18 September 2018[28] 6th   Mark Roberts (interim) 20 September 2018[29]
Queen's Park   Mark Roberts (interim) End of interim 12 October 2018[30] 6th   Mark Roberts 12 October 2018[30]
Stirling Albion   Dave Mackay Sacked 29 September 2018[31] 7th   Kevin Rutkiewicz 22 October 2018[32]
Berwick Rangers   Robbie Horn Resigned 6 October 2018[33] 9th   Johnny Harvey 16 October 2018[34]
Albion Rovers   John Brogan Resigned 21 October 2018[35] 10th   Kevin Harper 6 November 2018[36]
Berwick Rangers   Johnny Harvey Sacked 2 May 2019[37] 10th   John Brownlie 2 May 2019[37]

League summary

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League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Peterhead (C, P) 36 24 7 5 65 29 +36 79 Promotion to League One
2 Clyde[a] (O, P) 36 23 5 8 63 35 +28 74 Qualification for the League One play-offs
3 Edinburgh City 36 20 7 9 58 31 +27 67
4 Annan Athletic 36 20 6 10 70 39 +31 66
5 Stirling Albion 36 13 8 15 44 45 −1 47
6 Cowdenbeath 36 12 7 17 46 46 0 43
7 Queen's Park[a] 36 11 10 15 44 47 −3 43
8 Elgin City 36 13 4 19 52 67 −15 43
9 Albion Rovers[a] 36 7 6 23 32 71 −39 27
10 Berwick Rangers (R) 36 5 4 27 27 91 −64 19 Qualification for the League Two play-off final
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
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Albion Rovers and Queen's Park were awarded 3–0 technical victories against Clyde in February 2019 after Clyde fielded an ineligible player. The original matches had finished 1–0 to Clyde and 1–1 respectively.[38][39]

Positions by round

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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 2019–20 League One
Qualification for League One play-offs
Qualification for League Two play-off final
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
Peterhead 6 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Clyde 2 1 5 6 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2
Edinburgh City 1 6 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3
Annan Athletic 4 3 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Stirling Albion 8 9 9 9 9 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 6 5 5 5 5 6 5 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Cowdenbeath 9 8 7 7 8 9 9 9 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 6
Queen's Park 7 5 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 7
Elgin City 5 4 3 4 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 5 5 6 7 6 6 6 6 5 6 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8
Albion Rovers 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
Berwick Rangers 3 7 8 8 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Source: Scottish League Two - Table
Updated: 4 May 2019

Results

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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 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season

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Home \ Away ALB ANN BER CLY COW EDC ELG PET QUE STI
Albion Rovers 1–1 3–5 0–3 1–1 1–2 0–1 0–4 0–3 3–1
Annan Athletic 3–1 4–0 1–2 0–2 1–2 1–1 1–3 3–1 2–2
Berwick Rangers 2–0 0–3 2–3 0–3 2–2 0–3 0–5 1–2 1–0
Clyde 1–0 1–0 3–3 2–0 0–2 4–1 1–3 2–0 1–1
Cowdenbeath 1–1 1–2 4–0 1–1 0–2 1–2 2–4 2–0 1–0
Edinburgh City 4–0 2–1 3–0 0–1 1–0 4–1 1–1 2–0 3–1
Elgin City 4–2 0–1 2–4 1–3 3–1 1–0 0–3 2–1 0–3
Peterhead 2–1 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 3–0 1–1 4–1
Queen's Park 2–0 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 0–2 0–4 2–0 1–1
Stirling Albion 1–0 1–2 3–0 0–3 2–1 0–1 5–2 0–2 1–0
Source: Scottish League Two
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

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Home \ Away ALB ANN BER CLY COW EDC ELG PET QUE STI
Albion Rovers 0–2 1–1 0–1 1–0 3–2 0–3 0–2 0–4 0–5
Annan Athletic 4–0 6–0 1–1 3–2 3–1 2–0 3–0 2–1 2–2
Berwick Rangers 0–3 1–2 0–3 1–1 0–2 0–3 2–0 0–3 1–2
Clyde 0–3 2–1 5–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 3–3 3–0 3–1
Cowdenbeath 1–0 2–4 2–0 2–1 4–1 2–1 1–3 0–0 1–2
Edinburgh City 3–1 1–2 1–0 1–2 2–0 1–1 0–0 2–0 0–1
Elgin City 0–2 0–1 2–0 2–1 1–4 3–3 1–2 2–2 3–2
Peterhead 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–2 2–1 0–0 1–0 2–1 1–1
Queen's Park 2–2 0–3 7–1 3–0 1–1 0–4 4–1 0–2 0–0
Stirling Albion 0–1 2–1 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–0 2–1 0–1 1–1
Source: Scottish League Two
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

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Scoring

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Top scorers

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As of 4 May 2019
Rank Player Club Goals
1   Blair Henderson Edinburgh City 30
2   David Goodwillie Clyde 17
3   Rory McAllister Peterhead 15
4   Shane Sutherland Elgin City & Peterhead 13
5   Tommy Muir Annan Athletic 12
  Tony Wallace Annan Athletic

Source:[40]

Hat-tricks

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Player For Against Result Date Ref
  Blair Henderson Edinburgh City Albion Rovers 4–0 (H) 4 August 2018 [41]
  Blair Henderson Edinburgh City Elgin City 4–1 (H) 15 December 2018 [42]
  Peter MacDonald Stirling Albion Albion Rovers 0–5 (A) 26 January 2019 [43]
  Darryl McHardy Elgin City Albion Rovers 0–3 (A) 9 February 2019 [44]
  David Galt Queen's Park Elgin City 4–1 (H) 16 March 2019 [45]
  Jordan Allan Cowdenbeath Edinburgh City 4–1 (H) 6 April 2019 [46]

Note

(H) = Home, (A) = Away;

Attendances

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Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Peterhead 12,021 1,371 522 667 +9.2%
2 Clyde 11,485 1,012 408 638 +29.7%
3 Elgin City 11,211 929 485 622 +2.5%
4 Queen's Park 11,001 1,076 404 611 −11.1%
5 Stirling Albion 10,583 802 413 587 −10.7%
6 Berwick Rangers 8,599 975 293 477 +10.2%
7 Edinburgh City 7,223 1,057 247 401 +24.9%
8 Annan Athletic 7,168 569 317 398 +15.0%
9 Cowdenbeath 6,384 1,007 250 354 +11.0%
10 Albion Rovers 5,151 560 145 286 −37.3%
League total 90,826 1,371 145 504 +2.4%

Updated to games played on 4 May 2019
Source: [2] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56]

Awards

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Monthly awards

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Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Ref.
Manager Club Player Club
August   Peter Murphy Annan Athletic   Rory McAllister Peterhead [57]
September   James McDonaugh Edinburgh City   Conrad Balatoni Edinburgh City
October   Mark Roberts Queen's Park   Blair Henderson Edinburgh City
November   Danny Lennon Clyde   Dylan Cogill Clyde
December   Jim McInally Peterhead   Blair Henderson Edinburgh City
January   Danny Lennon Clyde   Peter MacDonald Stirling Albion
February   Peter Murphy Annan Athletic   Chris Johnston Annan Athletic
March   Kevin Harper Albion Rovers   Peter Morrison Albion Rovers
April   Danny Lennon Clyde   Smart Osadolor Albion Rovers

League Two play-offs

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The Pyramid play-off was contested between the champions of the 2018–19 Highland Football League (Cove Rangers) and the 2018–19 Lowland Football League (East Kilbride).[58] Cove were victorious 5–1 on aggregate and faced the bottom club (Berwick Rangers) in the League Two play-off final, being promoted to League Two for the 2019–20 season after a 7–0 aggregate win. As Berwick Rangers lost the play-off, they were relegated to the Lowland League since they were south of 56.4513N latitude (middle of the Tay Road Bridge).[4]

Pyramid play-off

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First leg

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27 April 2019 East Kilbride 1–2 Cove Rangers East Kilbride
15:00
  • Longworth   90+3'
Report
  • Milne   3'
  • Ross   35'
Stadium: K-Park Training Academy
Referee: Grant Irvine

Second leg

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4 May 2019 Cove Rangers 3–0
(5–1 agg.)
East Kilbride Aberdeen
15:00
Report Stadium: Balmoral Stadium
Referee: Mike Roncone

Final

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First leg

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11 May 2019 Cove Rangers 4–0 Berwick Rangers Aberdeen
15:00
Report Stadium: Balmoral Stadium
Attendance: 1,955
Referee: David Lowe

Second leg

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18 May 2019 Berwick Rangers 0–3
(0–7 agg.)
Cove Rangers Berwick-upon-Tweed
15:00 Report
Stadium: Shielfield Park
Attendance: 1,314
Referee: John McKendrick

References

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  1. ^ "Top Scorers - Scottish League Two". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Scottish League Two Performance Stats 2018–19". ESPN. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. ^ "2018/19 fixture release day confirmed". SPFL. 26 April 2018. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  4. ^ a b "The Rules and Regulations of the Scottish Professional Football League" (PDF). Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Albion Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  6. ^ "Annan Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  7. ^ "Berwick Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Clyde Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. ^ Pilcher, Ross (29 March 2017). "Edinburgh City and Spartans confirm three-season groundshare". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Cowdenbeath Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. ^ "Elgin City Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. ^ "Peterhead Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  13. ^ "Queens Park Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  14. ^ "Stirling Albion Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  15. ^ a b "Shirt sponsor winners". Annan Athletic FC. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  16. ^ "Club Sponsors". Annan Athletic FC. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  17. ^ "New team kit announcement". Berwick Rangers FC. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Advance Construction extend sponsorship". Clyde FC. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Rock Regen sponsor away shirt". Clyde FC. 16 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  20. ^ "New Uhlsport & FN Teamwear kit deal". Cowdenbeath FC. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  21. ^ Pilcher, Ross (29 May 2017). "Josh Walker new Edinburgh City captain after extending deal". Edinburgh Evening News. Johnston Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  22. ^ "Edinburgh City FC partnership". Edinburgh City FC. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.[permanent dead link]
  23. ^ "CMC Property sponsor Edinburgh City FC". CMC Property. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ "EV2 Sportswear on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
  25. ^ Walker, Aimee (22 May 2017). "New home strip 2017/18". Elgin City FC. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
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  30. ^ a b "Mark Roberts: Queen's Park appoint replacement for Gus MacPherson". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
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  33. ^ "Berwick Rangers: Robbie Horn resigns as manager; club cite "impact" of role on his health". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  34. ^ "Berwick Rangers appoint Johnny Harvey as new manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  35. ^ "Albion Rovers: John Brogan exits as manager after Scottish Cup loss to Formartine". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  36. ^ "Harper named new Rovers boss". Scottish Professional Football League. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  37. ^ a b "Berwick Rangers: John Brownlie & Ian Little replace manager Johnny Harvey". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  38. ^ "Disciplinary hearing - Clyde FC". SPFL. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  39. ^ "Clyde: Club say punishment is 'inconsistent and unduly harsh'". BBC Sport. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  40. ^ "Scottish League Two Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  41. ^ "Edinburgh City v Albion Rovers". BBC Sport. 4 August 2018.
  42. ^ "Edinburgh City v Elgin City". BBC Sport. 15 December 2018.
  43. ^ "Albion Rovers v Stirling Albion". BBC Sport. 26 January 2019.
  44. ^ "Albion Rovers v Elgin City". BBC Sport. 9 February 2019.
  45. ^ "Queen's Park v Elgin City". BBC Sport. 16 March 2019.
  46. ^ "Cowdenbeath v Edinburgh City". BBC Sport. 6 April 2019.
  47. ^ "Albion Rovers Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  48. ^ "Annan Athletic Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  49. ^ "Berwick Rangers Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  50. ^ "Clyde Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  51. ^ "Cowdenbeath Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  52. ^ "Edinburgh City Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  53. ^ "Elgin City Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  54. ^ "Peterhead Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  55. ^ "Queen's Park Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  56. ^ "Stirling Albion Performance Stats". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  57. ^ "SPFL monthly awards". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 2016-05-31. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  58. ^ "Preview: Highland v Lowland League Play-Off 2019". Scottish Football Association. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.