2022–23 Lowland Football League

The 2022–23 Scottish Lowland Football League was the 10th season of the Lowland Football League, part of the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic were the reigning champions, but were unable to defend their title following their promotion to Scottish League Two.

Lowland League
Season2022–23
Dates22 July 2022 – 25 April 2023
ChampionsThe Spartans
PromotedThe Spartans
RelegatedDalbeattie Star
Matches played342
Goals scored1,240 (3.63 per match)
Biggest home winCaledonian Braves 10–0 Dalbeattie Star
(3 January 2023)
Biggest away winEdinburgh University 0–9 Hearts B
(5 November 2022)
Highest scoringCaledonian Braves 10–0 Dalbeattie Star
(3 January 2023)
Longest winning run7 matches:
Rangers B & The Spartans
Longest unbeaten run19 matches:
The Spartans
Longest winless run22 matches:
Dalbeattie Star
Longest losing run21 matches:
Edinburgh University
All statistics correct as of 25 April 2023.

Cowdenbeath became the third club to join the league via relegation from the SPFL, having lost the previous season's League Two play-off against Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic. East of Scotland League champions Tranent Juniors were promoted to the league, replacing founding league member Vale of Leithen who were relegated.

The Spartans won their third league title on 8 April 2023 thanks to a 2–0 win over Tranent Juniors at Foresters Park, with two matches still to play. They beat 2022–23 Highland Football League champions Brechin City on penalties after drawing 3–3 in the pyramid play-off and then beat Albion Rovers 2–1 in the final,[1] being promoted to Scottish League Two for the 2023–24 season.

Teams

edit

For the 2022–23 season, Broomhill were known as Open Goal Broomhill in a partnership with football media and podcast group Open Goal.[2]

From Lowland League

edit

Promoted to League Two

Relegated to East of Scotland League

To Lowland League

edit

Relegated from League Two

Promoted from East of Scotland League

Stadia and locations

edit
Team Location Stadium Capacity Seats
Berwick Rangers Berwick-upon-Tweed Shielfield Park 4,099 1,366
Bo'ness United Bo'ness Newtown Park 2,500 0
Broomhill Cumbernauld Broadwood Stadium[a] 8,086 8,086
Caledonian Braves Motherwell Alliance Park 500 100
Celtic B Airdrie Excelsior Stadium[b] 10,101 10,101
Civil Service Strollers Edinburgh Christie Gillies Park 1,569 100
Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath Central Park 4,309 1,622
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[c] 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
Heart of Midlothian B Rosewell Ferguson Park[d] 2,614 192
Rangers B Dumbarton Dumbarton Football Stadium[e] 2,020 2,020
The Spartans Edinburgh Ainslie Park 3,612 534
Tranent Juniors Tranent Foresters Park[3] 2,300 44
University of Stirling Stirling Forthbank Stadium[f] 3,808 2,508
Notes
  1. ^ Broomhill are ground-sharing with Cumbernauld Colts.
  2. ^ Celtic B are ground-sharing with Airdrieonians.
  3. ^ East Stirlingshire are ground-sharing with Falkirk.
  4. ^ Heart of Midlothian B are ground-sharing with Whitehill Welfare.
  5. ^ Rangers B are ground-sharing with Dumbarton.
  6. ^ University of Stirling are ground-sharing with Stirling Albion.

All grounds are equipped with floodlights.

League table

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 The Spartans (C, O, P) 36 24 7 5 78 31 +47 79 Qualification for the Pyramid play-off
2 Rangers B 36 24 5 7 98 57 +41 77 Ineligible for promotion or relegation
3 Celtic B 36 23 7 6 96 45 +51 76
4 University of Stirling 36 22 5 9 82 45 +37 71
5 Tranent Juniors 36 19 8 9 74 44 +30 65
6 East Kilbride 36 19 7 10 81 53 +28 64
7 Berwick Rangers 36 18 7 11 61 51 +10 61
8 Civil Service Strollers 36 16 10 10 63 45 +18 58
9 Bo'ness United 36 16 6 14 71 51 +20 54
10 Caledonian Braves 36 15 6 15 79 67 +12 51
11 Broomhill 36 15 6 15 73 73 0 51
12 Gala Fairydean Rovers 36 15 4 17 63 74 −11 49
13 Heart of Midlothian B 36 13 9 14 75 59 +16 48 Ineligible for promotion or relegation
14 Cumbernauld Colts 36 14 4 18 62 59 +3 46
15 Cowdenbeath 36 10 6 20 46 50 −4 36
16 East Stirlingshire 36 8 9 19 41 74 −33 33
17 Gretna 2008 36 8 2 26 39 91 −52 26
18 Edinburgh University 36 5 1 30 31 127 −96 16
19 Dalbeattie Star (R) 36 1 5 30 27 144 −117 8 Relegation to the South of Scotland League
Source: SLFL BBC Sport 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

edit
Home \ Away BER BNS BRO CAL CEL CSS COW CUM DAL EKB EAS EDU GFR GRE HEA RAN SPA TRA STI
Berwick Rangers 2–2 2–1 0–2 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–0 4–0 3–0 3–0 3–1 2–1 3–2 1–1 3–0 0–0 1–0 2–2
Bo'ness United 1–0 2–3 3–2 0–3 0–0 3–1 3–0 7–0 0–3 6–0 2–1 1–2 3–0 4–1 0–4 0–1 0–2 2–2
Broomhill 3–2 3–4 3–1 0–3 4–1 3–0 1–0 3–1 2–3 0–2 4–1 5–1 2–2 1–1 2–2 2–1 1–2 0–2
Caledonian Braves 3–2 0–2 2–3 0–1 3–1 1–0 2–1 10–0 2–2 1–1 5–0 2–2 6–0 3–2 3–3 2–4 2–3 1–0
Celtic B 1–3 2–1 6–2 4–4 4–0 3–1 1–1 5–0 1–2 2–1 5–0 2–4 3–1 2–0 5–2[a] 1–1 2–1 6–0
Civil Service Strollers 1–1 0–0 3–1 2–0 0–2 2–1 0–1 2–2 3–1 2–2 4–0 1–3 4–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 0–0 0–0
Cowdenbeath 0–4 1–1 0–3 1–0 0–3 1–2 1–0 1–1 1–3 5–0 3–0 1–2 3–0 3–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 2–0
Cumbernauld Colts 3–3 1–0 2–1 4–1 4–2 1–3 1–0 5–0 2–0 2–0 1–3 2–4 2–3 2–1 3–6 1–1 1–2 1–3
Dalbeattie Star 3–1 1–7 0–4 2–3 2–2 0–6 0–6[b] 2–5 1–2 2–2 1–3 1–4 0–3 0–0 2–5 0–4 0–2 1–6
East Kilbride 5–0 1–0 1–1 4–2 2–2 2–1 0–1 1–0 5–2 1–1 2–3 4–0 3–0 4–1 3–4 0–1 1–1 2–2
East Stirlingshire 1–4 2–1 1–0 1–1 0–3 1–3 0–0 2–3 5–1 1–0 3–0 0–1 3–1 0–2 2–3 1–4 2–2 0–2
Edinburgh University 0–1 0–5 1–4 0–1 2–4 0–3 0–5 0–6 4–0 1–6 1–1 2–3 3–1 0–9 0–3 1–3 1–4 0–4
Gala Fairydean Rovers 0–2 2–3 4–1 0–4 3–4 2–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 4–5 0–2 2–0 3–0 3–3 2–1 1–3 0–2 2–3
Gretna 2008 0–1 1–4 3–3 0–1 1–4 0–4 1–0 0–3 1–0 0–6 2–0 7–2 3–1 0–2 0–2 0–3 2–1 2–3
Heart of Midlothian B 6–0 2–0 2–3 2–5 1–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 4–0 4–1 5–0 3–0 3–0 2–1 2–3 0–0 2–3 2–4
Rangers B 3–0 4–1 5–2 2–0 1–3[c] 3–1 3–2 2–2 6–1 0–0 4–1 3–1 4–1 2–1 2–3 3–0 2–0 3–2
The Spartans 3–2 2–0 2–2 5–1 2–2 1–0 1–0 3–0 6–0 2–3 3–1 3–0 4–1 3–0 1–0 3–1 1–1 4–0
Tranent Juniors 1–0 1–1 4–0 4–2 0–1 2–3 4–2 2–1 4–1 2–3 3–1 8–0 0–0 4–0 3–2 2–2 0–1 2–1
University of Stirling 3–1 1–2 4–0 3–1 2–1 0–2 1–0 2–0 5–0 2–0 1–1 5–0 2–1 2–0 4–0 1–2 3–0 5–2
Source: [7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ Match played at Celtic Park.[4]
  2. ^ Match played at Galabank, Annan.[5]
  3. ^ Match played at Ibrox Stadium.[6]

Lowland League play-off

edit

A three match round robin play-off was scheduled take place between the winners of the 2022–23 East of Scotland Football League, the 2022–23 South of Scotland Football League, and the 2022–23 West of Scotland Football League, subject to all three clubs meeting the required licensing criteria for promotion.[8]

Linlithgow Rose qualified for the play-off as the winners of the East of Scotland Football League. As it transpired, both the winners of the South of Scotland Football League (Abbey Vale), and the West of Scotland Football League (Beith Juniors) were ineligible for the play-off as neither held an SFA club licence. Linlithgow Rose were therefore automatically promoted.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Albion Rovers 0–1 The Spartans". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 May 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Open Goal announce Broomhill partnership as Simon Ferry named manager of Lowland League side". Daily Record. 4 May 2022.
  3. ^ Tranent, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  4. ^ McCarthy, David; Hanratty, Robbie (30 December 2022). "Celtic 5 Rangers 2 RECAP as home side rout rivals in seven goal Lowland League derby thriller". Daily Record. Reach plc. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  5. ^ Annan Athletic FC [@AnnanAthleticFC] (1 April 2023). "Today we welcome @dalbeattiestar and @CowdenbeathFC to Galabank in the @OfficialSLFL 3PM K.O. The clubhouse will be open for your pre and post match pints⚽️🍻" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Rangers B & Academy [@RFC_Youth] (2 April 2023). "⏰ Full-Time at Ibrox Rangers 1 - 3 Celtic" (Tweet). Retrieved 2 April 2023 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "Lowland League Results". Lowland Football League. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  8. ^ "LOWER PYRAMID PLAY - OFF COMPETITION RULES" (PDF). Lowland Football League. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
edit