2015–16 Lowland Football League

Lowland League
Season	2015–16
Champions	Edinburgh City
Promoted	Edinburgh City
Relegated	Threave Rovers
Matches played	210
Goals scored	786 (3.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ross Allum; (Edinburgh City); (27 goals)
Longest winning run	8 matches: ; Edinburgh City
Longest unbeaten run	18 matches: ; Edinburgh City
Longest losing run	17 matches: ; Threave Rovers
	← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 Lowland League was the third season of the Lowland Football League. The season began on 1 August 2015 and ended on 19 May 2016. Edinburgh City were the defending champions. Cumbernauld Colts were elected to the league as new members.

The league was won by Edinburgh City with two matches remaining on 9 April 2016, securing their second title after a 1–0 win over Stirling University. They played the champions of the 2015–16 Highland League (Cove Rangers) in the semi-finals of the League Two play-offs, winning 4-1 on aggregate.

Edinburgh City then drew 1–1 at home in the first leg of the play-off final against East Stirlingshire, before scoring a late penalty to win 1–0 away from home in the second leg, winning 2–1 on aggregate to gain a place in Scottish League Two.

Teams

Location of teams in 2015–16 Scottish Lowland Football League

The following teams have changed division since the 2014–15 season.

To Lowland League

Transferred from Caledonian Amateur Football League

Cumbernauld Colts

Stadia and Locations

Team	Location	Home ground	Capacity	Ref.
BSC Glasgow	Glasgow	Lochburn Park (Maryhill)	1,800	^[1]
Cumbernauld Colts	Cumbernauld	Broadwood Stadium	7,936	^[2]
Dalbeattie Star	Dalbeattie	Islecroft Stadium	3,500	^[3]
East Kilbride	East Kilbride	K Park Training Academy	400	^[4]
Edinburgh City	Edinburgh	Meadowbank Stadium	16,500	^[5]
Edinburgh University	Edinburgh	New East Peffermill	1,000	^[6]
Gala Fairydean Rovers	Galashiels	Netherdale	4,000	^[7]
Gretna 2008	Gretna	Raydale Park	2,200	^[8]
Preston Athletic	Prestonpans	Pennypit Park	4,000	^[9]
Selkirk	Selkirk	Yarrow Park	1,162	^[10]
The Spartans	Edinburgh	Ainslie Park	3,000	^[11]
Stirling University	Stirling	Forthbank Stadium	3,808	^[12]
Threave Rovers	Castle Douglas	Meadow Park	1,500	^[13]
Vale of Leithen	Innerleithen	Victoria Park	1,500	^[14]
Whitehill Welfare	Rosewell	Ferguson Park	2,614	^[15]

League table

Threave Rovers were spared automatic relegation as neither champion of the two feeder leagues, Leith Athletic or St Cuthbert Wanderers, met licensing criteria. The club however, declined the opportunity to re-apply to the league and rejoined the South of Scotland Football League for the 2016–17 season.^[16]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Edinburgh City (C, O, P)	28	24	1	3	74	28	+46	73	Qualification to League Two play-off semi-finals
2	The Spartans	28	18	4	6	74	36	+38	58
3	Stirling University	28	17	5	6	65	32	+33	56
4	Cumbernauld Colts	28	15	6	7	60	42	+18	51
5	East Kilbride	28	14	7	7	68	44	+24	49
6	Edinburgh University	28	13	3	12	51	46	+5	42
7	BSC Glasgow	28	12	5	11	54	51	+3	41
8	Whitehill Welfare	28	12	4	12	47	43	+4	40
9	Dalbeattie Star	28	10	6	12	54	50	+4	36
10	Gretna 2008	28	11	3	14	38	50	−12	36
11	Gala Fairydean Rovers	28	10	2	16	53	61	−8	32
12	Selkirk	28	9	2	17	52	70	−18	29
13	Vale of Leithen	28	7	5	16	38	67	−29	26
14	Preston Athletic	28	6	4	18	28	70	−42	22
15	Threave Rovers (R)	28	3	1	24	30	96	−66	10	Resigned at end of season, joined South of Scotland League

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BSC	CUM	DBS	EKB	EDC	EDU	GFR	G08	PRA	SEL	SPA	SLU	THR	VOL	WHW
BSC Glasgow		0–4	2–1	1–0	1–3	0–2	3–3	2–4	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–3	7–3	2–1	2–0
Cumbernauld Colts	2–1		4–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–1	4–1	5–1	1–0	0–4	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–3
Dalbeattie Star	0–2	0–2		1–2	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–3	1–2	2–2	7–1	2–1	1–1
East Kilbride	2–1	1–1	2–2		1–2	6–0	2–1	4–1	1–1	5–4	0–1	2–2	4–0	5–2	1–2
Edinburgh City	2–0	3–1	5–2	1–1		5–0	3–0	3–0	4–1	4–2	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	1–4
Edinburgh University	3–2	4–0	1–2	0–4	1–2		4–1	2–0	1–0	3–2	3–4	0–1	4–0	0–0	5–0
Gala Fairydean Rovers	4–3	2–2	1–2	3–2	1–3	0–5		0–2	1–0	3–1	2–6	1–3	5–0	7–0	0–1
Gretna 2008	0–0	0–2	0–0	4–5	0–3	0–5	0–2		3–2	0–3	1–0	2–1	3–0	3–1	1–0
Preston Athletic	0–4	0–2	1–4	2–0	2–8	2–1	0–3	0–2		0–1	0–7	0–5	5–0	2–2	1–1
Selkirk	1–2	3–5	1–4	1–5	1–2	2–0	2–1	1–5	1–2		3–2	1–2	3–1	1–3	0–4
The Spartans	2–1	3–0	4–2	1–1	2–3	5–0	3–1	2–1	1–1	5–2		1–0	4–1	4–1	3–2
Stirling University	0–3	1–2	3–1	3–0	3–1	1–0	4–2	3–1	5–1	2–1	1–1		4–1	2–0	3–1
Threave Rovers	0–3	1–4	3–4	3–4	1–2	1–2	1–4	1–2	0–1	3–5	0–3	0–6		1–1	3–1
Vale of Leithen	5–0	3–3	1–8	1–4	1–3	2–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	1–4	1–0	1–3	1–2		0–2
Whitehill Welfare	1–2	2–4	0–0	2–3	0–1	0–1	3–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	5–2	2–1	1–2	3–2

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Lowland Football League play-off

It was proposed that the respective winners of the 2015–16 East of Scotland Football League (Leith Athletic) and 2015–16 South of Scotland Football League (St Cuthbert Wanderers) leagues would meet in a play-off, with the winner taking a place in next season's Lowland League. However, neither met licensing criteria so the play-off did not take place.

References

^ Broomhill SC Glasgow Archived 2015-06-24 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.
^ Cumbernauld Colts, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.
^ Dalbeattie Star, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ East Kilbride, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Edinburgh City Archived 2013-08-14 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Edinburgh University, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.
^ Gala Fairydean Rovers, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Gretna 2008, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Preston Athletic, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Selkirk Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Spartans, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Stirling University, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Threave Rovers, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Vale of Leithen, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ Whitehill Welfare, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ 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.

[NLS_BSC-1] Broomhill SC Glasgow Archived 2015-06-24 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.

[NLS_Cumbernauld_Colts-2] Cumbernauld Colts, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.

[NLS_Dalbeattie-3] Dalbeattie Star, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_East_Kilbride-4] East Kilbride, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Edinburgh_City-5] Edinburgh City Archived 2013-08-14 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Edinburgh_University-6] Edinburgh University, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.

[NLS_Gala-7] Gala Fairydean Rovers, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Gretna-8] Gretna 2008, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Preston-9] Preston Athletic, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Selkirk-10] Selkirk Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Spartans-11] Spartans, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Stirling_Uni-12] Stirling University, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Threave_Rovers-13] Threave Rovers, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Vale_of_Leithen-14] Vale of Leithen, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[NLS_Whitehill_Welfare-15] Whitehill Welfare, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.

[16] 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.

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