2019–20 Lowland Football League

Lowland League
Season	2019–20
Dates	27 July 2019 – 13 April 2020
Champions	Kelty Hearts
Relegated	None
Matches played	195
Goals scored	713 (3.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Nathan Austin (Kelty Hearts); (37 goals)
Biggest home win	Kelty Hearts 11–0 Vale of Leithen; (14 December 2019)
Biggest away win	Vale of Leithen 0–7 Kelty Hearts; (24 August 2019)
Highest scoring	Kelty Hearts 11–0 Vale of Leithen; (14 December 2019)
Longest winning run	14 matches:; Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic
Longest unbeaten run	21 matches:; Kelty Hearts
Longest winless run	15 matches:; Edinburgh University
Longest losing run	8 matches:; Vale of Leithen
Highest attendance	1,510; Kelty Hearts 3–2 Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic; (29 February 2020)
	← 2018–19 2020–21 →

The 2019–20 Scottish Lowland Football League was the seventh season of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. East Kilbride were the reigning champions.

Berwick Rangers became the second club to join the league via relegation from the SPFL, having lost the previous season's League Two play-off against Cove Rangers. East of Scotland League champions Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic were promoted to the league, replacing Whitehill Welfare who were relegated. Edusport Academy renamed to Caledonian Braves prior to the season.

The season began on 27 July 2019 and was scheduled to end on 18 April 2020, but on 13 March, the league was indefinitely suspended due to the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak.^[3] A points per game formula was subsequently used to determine the final standings, with Kelty Hearts declared champions on 13 April.^[4]

Teams

Berwick Rangers

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

BSC Glasgow

Caledonian Braves

Civil Service Strollers

Gala Fairydean Rovers

Gretna 2008

Kelty Hearts

The Spartans

University of Stirling

Vale of Leithen

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Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Lowland Football League

The following teams changed division after the 2018–19 season.

To Lowland League

Relegated from League Two

Berwick Rangers

Promoted from East of Scotland League

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

From Lowland League

Relegated to East of Scotland League

Whitehill Welfare

Folded

Selkirk

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Seats
Berwick Rangers	Berwick-upon-Tweed	Shielfield Park	4,099	1,366
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Bonnyrigg	New Dundas Park	2,200	0
BSC Glasgow	Alloa	Recreation Park^[a]	3,100	919
Caledonian Braves	Motherwell	Alliance Park	500	100
Civil Service Strollers	Edinburgh	Christie Gillies Park	1,569	100
Cumbernauld Colts	Cumbernauld	Broadwood Stadium	8,086	8,086
Dalbeattie Star	Dalbeattie	Islecroft Stadium	1,320	100
East Kilbride	East Kilbride	K Park	660	400
East Stirlingshire	Falkirk	Falkirk Stadium^[b]	7,937	7,937
Edinburgh University	Edinburgh	New Peffermill Stadium	1,100	100
Gala Fairydean Rovers	Galashiels	3G Arena, Netherdale	2,000	500
Gretna 2008	Gretna	Raydale Park	1,030	138
Kelty Hearts	Kelty	New Central Park	2,181	353
The Spartans	Edinburgh	Ainslie Park	3,612	534
University of Stirling	Stirling	Forthbank Stadium^[c]	3,808	2,508
Vale of Leithen	Innerleithen	Victoria Park	1,500	0

Notes

^ BSC Glasgow are ground-sharing with Alloa Athletic due to the lack of a suitable venue in Glasgow.
^ East Stirlingshire are ground-sharing with Falkirk.
^ University of Stirling are ground-sharing with Stirling Albion.

All grounds are equipped with floodlights, except Victoria Park (Vale of Leithen).

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Berwick Rangers	Ian Little	Euan Smith	Hummel	Michael Guthrie Developments
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Robbie Horn	Jonathan Stewart	Macron	G. Fitzsimmons and Son
BSC Glasgow	Stephen Swift	Ross McMillan	Joma	Nicholson Accountancy
Caledonian Braves	Ricky Waddell	Alan Reid	Macron
Civil Service Strollers	Gary Jardine	Mark McConnell	Legea	Futurity Financial Services
Cumbernauld Colts	Craig McKinlay & James Orr	Stephen O'Neill	Uhlsport	MES Ltd
Dalbeattie Star	Ritchie Maxwell	Vinnie Parker	Joma	Solway Plant Hire
East Kilbride		Craig Malcolm	Joma	Enviro-Clean
East Stirlingshire	Derek Ure	Jamie Barclay	EV2 Sportswear	Central Industrial Services
Edinburgh University	Dorian Ogunro	Finn Daniels-Yeomans	PlayerLayer	TWEDEX
Gala Fairydean Rovers	Neil Hastings	Danny Galbraith	Adidas	Five Star Taxis
Gretna 2008	Rowan Alexander	Joe Jackson	Macron	Welzh Wertzeug
Kelty Hearts	Barry Ferguson	Gary Cennerazzo	Joma	The Conservatory Converters
The Spartans	Douglas Samuel	Adam Corbett	Macron	Arthur McKay
University of Stirling	Chris Geddes	Angus Mailer	VSN	Mackay Clinic
Vale of Leithen	Chris Anderson	Ger Rossi	Adidas	WillSweep

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
East Kilbride	Stuart Malcolm	Signed by Forfar Athletic	10 November 2019^[5]	8th
Gretna 2008	Chris Humphrey	Sacked	30 November 2019^[6]	14th	Rowan Alexander	2 December 2019^[7]

League summary

League table

With the season not being fully completed, a points per game formula was subsequently used to determine the final standings, with Kelty Hearts declared champions on 13 April.^[4] Only two teams' league positions were changed as a result; with BSC Glasgow's 2.32 points average moving them past the 2.04 of East Stirlingshire for third place.^[8]^[9]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG
1	Kelty Hearts (C)	25	22	2	1	95	17	+78	68	2.72
2	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	24	20	2	2	70	22	+48	62	2.58
3	BSC Glasgow^[a]	22	16	3	3	58	21	+37	51	2.32
4	East Stirlingshire	26	17	2	7	77	29	+48	53	2.04
5	The Spartans	25	16	1	8	49	32	+17	49	1.96
6	Civil Service Strollers	23	12	3	8	40	38	+2	39	1.70
7	East Kilbride	23	11	4	8	43	24	+19	37	1.61
8	Caledonian Braves	26	11	3	12	57	55	+2	36	1.38
9	Cumbernauld Colts	27	10	6	11	49	50	−1	36	1.33
10	University of Stirling	25	9	4	12	28	44	−16	31	1.24
11	Gala Fairydean Rovers	25	7	6	12	39	55	−16	27	1.08
12	Berwick Rangers	24	6	6	12	32	41	−9	24	1.00
13	Gretna 2008	24	2	6	16	21	62	−41	12	0.50
14	Edinburgh University	25	2	6	17	18	66	−48	12	0.48
15	Dalbeattie Star	23	3	2	18	19	68	−49	11	0.48
16	Vale of Leithen	23	2	2	19	18	89	−71	8	0.35

Source: SLFL BBC Sport Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ BSC Glasgow finished third based on the 'points per game' measure, despite accumulating fewer points than East Stirlingshire.^[8]

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each round 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.

	Qualification for the Pyramid play-off
	Possible relegation to the EoSFL or SoSFL
	Relegation to the EoSFL or SoSFL

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
Team \ Round
Kelty Hearts	1	6	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
East Stirlingshire	7	4	1	4	9	7	5	8	5	5	4	3	3	3	2	3	3	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
BSC Glasgow	6	5	9	5	4	6	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
The Spartans	10	10	10	9	7	9	8	6	8	8	8	9	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5
Civil Service Strollers	4	3	3	7	8	5	3	7	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6
East Kilbride	9	8	5	8	6	8	6	4	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7
Caledonian Braves	3	2	6	3	3	3	7	5	7	7	6	6	6	6	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	8	9	8	8	9	8
Cumbernauld Colts	5	7	7	6	5	4	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	9	7	7	8	8	9	9	9	9	8	9	9	8	9
University of Stirling	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Gala Fairydean Rovers	12	9	8	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	12	13	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	12	11
Berwick Rangers	8	12	12	13	14	12	12	13	13	13	13	12	13	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	11	12
Gretna 2008	13	13	14	14	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	13
Edinburgh University	14	16	15	12	12	13	13	14	14	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	15	15	14	14	14	14
Dalbeattie Star	16	15	13	16	13	14	14	12	12	12	11	11	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	14	15	15	15	15
Vale of Leithen	15	14	16	15	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16

Source: Lowland League Table
Updated: 29 February 2020

Results

Home \ Away	BER	BON	BSC	CAL	CSS	CUM	DAL	EKB	EAS	EDU	GFR	GRE	KEL	SPA	STI	VOL
Berwick Rangers		3–5	0–1	1–0	1–3	2–2	3–0	0–2	1–5	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–1	N/A	1–2	4–0
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	N/A		1–3	3–0	1–1	5–1	3–0	2–0	3–1	4–0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5–1	6–0
BSC Glasgow	4–1	2–3		6–1	4–1	3–1	5–0	1–1	1–1	N/A	4–0	4–1	N/A	1–0	3–0	3–0
Caledonian Braves	2–2	2–3	1–4		7–2	N/A	5–5	0–2	0–3	2–1	0–0	3–2	1–4	N/A	3–0	4–1
Civil Service Strollers	N/A	1–1	N/A	2–0		2–3	3–0	N/A	N/A	3–0	2–2	1–0	2–3	1–2	1–0	N/A
Cumbernauld Colts	0–0	0–2	2–1	3–1	0–2		3–0	2–2	1–4	4–1	N/A	0–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	7–1
Dalbeattie Star	N/A	0–1	N/A	N/A	N/A	1–4		0–2	0–4	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–4	1–2	0–1	1–3
East Kilbride	3–2	0–1	4–0	1–3	0–1	7–0	3–1		N/A	5–0	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–4	0–1	N/A
East Stirlingshire	3–1	N/A	0–1	1–3	2–1	3–1	6–1	0–1		4–0	5–2	9–1	0–1	2–3	1–2	6–1
Edinburgh University	0–1	0–4	N/A	0–6	1–3	1–0	N/A	2–2	0–3		2–3	1–1	N/A	2–5	1–1	3–1
Gala Fairydean Rovers	2–2	1–5	0–3	3–1	4–0	0–3	N/A	N/A	0–3	N/A		4–1	1–2	0–2	2–0	1–3
Gretna 2008	1–1	1–2	N/A	1–5	0–3	0–0	2–4	N/A	N/A	0–0	3–3		1–3	N/A	1–2	2–0
Kelty Hearts	N/A	3–2	2–2	4–1	5–0	N/A	8–0	1–0	2–2	7–1	3–0	10–0		5–0	2–1	11–0
The Spartans	1–0	2–3	1–2	1–3	0–1	3–2	4–0	N/A	1–3	2–0	4–0	1–0	0–1		3–2	2–1
University of Stirling	1–0	0–3	N/A	N/A	N/A	4–4	0–3	N/A	1–3	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–4	0–0		4–0
Vale of Leithen	N/A	0–2	N/A	0–3	2–4	2–2	N/A	0–3	0–3	1–1	1–5	N/A	0–7	1–5	N/A

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

Top scorers

As of 8 March 2020^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Nathan Austin	Kelty Hearts	37
2	Ross McNeil	Caledonian Braves	17
3	Jamie Dishington	East Stirlingshire	16
4	Thomas Collins	BSC Glasgow	14
	Neil McLaughlin	Caledonian Braves
	Thomas Orr	BSC Glasgow
7	Sean Brown	East Stirlingshire	13
	Scott Linton	Kelty Hearts
	Marty Wright	Cumbernauld Colts
10	George Hunter	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	12
10	Nicky Low	East Stirlingshire	12

League Cup

A 16-team straight knock-out tournament was scheduled to take place over four weekends at the end of the league season. Following the suspension of all Scottish football until the end of April due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, the League Cup was cancelled.^[10]

Lowland League play-off

A play-off match was scheduled to take place between the winners of the 2019–20 East of Scotland Football League and the 2019–20 South of Scotland Football League, subject to both clubs meeting the required licensing criteria for promotion. This was cancelled following the South of Scotland Football League declaring their season null and void. As a result, Bo'ness United were promoted subject to SFA approval.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b "Top Goalscorers". SLFL. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
^ "Match Attendance: 1510". Twitter. Kelty Hearts FC. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
^ "Coronavirus – Joint Response Group Update 13 March". Scottish FA. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Kelty Hearts named champions as Lowland League called early". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
^ "Stuart Malcolm appointed new Forfar Athletic manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
^ Reeves, Thomas (1 December 2019). "Chris Humphrey sacked as Gretna 2008 manager". News and Star. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
^ "Rowan Alexander: Former Gretna manager back in charge at Raydale Park". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
^ ^a ^b Atkinson, Mark (13 April 2020). "Lowland League ends season and crowns Kelty Hearts champions - with Bonnyrigg Rose left high and dry". Edinburgh Evening News. JPIMedia. Retrieved 15 April 2020. Kelty, therefore, finish top with a score of 2.72 points, Bonnyrigg second with 2.58 points and BSC Glasgow third with 2.31 points.
^ Oliver, David (14 April 2020). "Lowland League fourth for third-placed East Stirlingshire". Falkirk Herald. JPIMedia. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^ Scottish Lowland League [@OfficialSLFL] (20 March 2020). "We can confirm that the Lowland League Cup will not run for the 2019/20 season. Last years winners @BSCGlasgow #AffordableFootball" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020 – via Twitter.
^ "Bo'ness United on verge of promotion". Scottish Lowland Football League. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.

External links

Official website

[5] BSC Glasgow are ground-sharing with Alloa Athletic due to the lack of a suitable venue in Glasgow.

[6] East Stirlingshire are ground-sharing with Falkirk.

[7] University of Stirling are ground-sharing with Stirling Albion.

[table_note_BSC0.56347596019668-13] BSC Glasgow finished third based on the 'points per game' measure, despite accumulating fewer points than East Stirlingshire.^[8]

[SLFL_topscorers-1] "Top Goalscorers". SLFL. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

[2] "Match Attendance: 1510". Twitter. Kelty Hearts FC. Retrieved 29 February 2020.

[3] "Coronavirus – Joint Response Group Update 13 March". Scottish FA. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.

[Kelty_champions-4] "Kelty Hearts named champions as Lowland League called early". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.

[8] "Stuart Malcolm appointed new Forfar Athletic manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.

[9] Reeves, Thomas (1 December 2019). "Chris Humphrey sacked as Gretna 2008 manager". News and Star. Retrieved 2 December 2019.

[10] "Rowan Alexander: Former Gretna manager back in charge at Raydale Park". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 December 2019.

[EEN-11] Atkinson, Mark (13 April 2020). "Lowland League ends season and crowns Kelty Hearts champions - with Bonnyrigg Rose left high and dry". Edinburgh Evening News. JPIMedia. Retrieved 15 April 2020. Kelty, therefore, finish top with a score of 2.72 points, Bonnyrigg second with 2.58 points and BSC Glasgow third with 2.31 points.

[12] Oliver, David (14 April 2020). "Lowland League fourth for third-placed East Stirlingshire". Falkirk Herald. JPIMedia. Retrieved 15 April 2020.

[14] Scottish Lowland League [@OfficialSLFL] (20 March 2020). "We can confirm that the Lowland League Cup will not run for the 2019/20 season. Last years winners @BSCGlasgow #AffordableFootball" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020 – via Twitter.

[15] "Bo'ness United on verge of promotion". Scottish Lowland Football League. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.

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