2016–17 Scottish League Two

Scottish League Two 2016–17
Season information
Winners	Arbroath
Promoted	Arbroath
Season statistics
Matches played	180
Top goalscorer	Shane Sutherland (18 goals)
Biggest home win	Elgin City 6–0 Berwick Rangers (10 December 2016)
Biggest away win	Montrose 0–5 Elgin City (15 October 2016)
Highest scoring	Arbroath 5–3 Stirling Albion (27 August 2016) Clyde 5–3 Cowdenbeath (27 August 2016)
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

The 2016–17 Scottish League Two (known as Ladbrokes League Two for sponsorship reasons) is the 22nd season in the current format of 10 teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The last placed team will enter a play-off with a team nominated by the Scottish Football Association from outside the SPFL determining which team enters League Two in the 2017–18 season. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016.

Ten teams will contest the league: Annan Athletic, Arbroath, Berwick Rangers, Clyde, Cowdenbeath, Edinburgh City, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Montrose and Stirling Albion.

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2015–16 season.

To League Two Promoted from Lowland Football League Edinburgh City Relegated from Scottish League One Forfar Athletic Cowdenbeath

From League Two Relegated to Lowland Football League East Stirlingshire Promoted to Scottish League One East Fife Queen's Park

Stadia and locations

Annan Athletic	Arbroath	Berwick Rangers	Clyde
Galabank	Gayfield Park	Shielfield Park	Broadwood Stadium
Capacity: 2,504	Capacity: 6,600	Capacity: 4,099	Capacity: 8,086
Cowdenbeath	Edinburgh City
Central Park	Meadowbank Stadium
Capacity: 4,309	Capacity: 5,000
Elgin City	Forfar Athletic	Montrose	Stirling Albion
Borough Briggs	Station Park	Links Park	Forthbank Stadium
Capacity: 4,520	Capacity: 6,777	Capacity: 4,936	Capacity: 3,808

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Annan Athletic	Jim Chapman	Steven Black	Stanno	M&S Engineering Ltd
Arbroath	Dick Campbell	Mark Whatley	Pendle	Megatech
Berwick Rangers	John Coughlin	Jordyn Sheerin	Zoo Sport	Simple Energy Scotland Ltd
Clyde	Jon-Paul McGovern & Peter MacDonald (joint interim)	Scott Ferguson	Hummel	Advance Construction Group (H), Heartfelt Limited (A)
Cowdenbeath	Gary Locke	David McGurn	Uhlsport	Subsea Pressure Controls
Edinburgh City	Gary Jardine	Ian McFarland	Joma	Hutchinson Networks
Elgin City	Jim Weir	Archie MacPhee	EC 1893	McDonald & Munro
Forfar Athletic	Gary Bollan	David Cox	Pendle	Orchard Timber Products
Montrose	Stewart Petrie	Paul Watson	Nike	Intervention Rentals
Stirling Albion	Dave Mackay	Ross McMillan	Macron	Prudential

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Cowdenbeath	name !Colin Nish	Sacked	12 May 2016	Pre-season	name !Liam Fox	23 May 2016
Stirling Albion	name !Stuart McLaren	Sacked	24 September 2016	9th	name !Martyn Corrigan (caretaker)	24 September 2016
Stirling Albion	name !Martyn Corrigan (caretaker)	Stepped down	5 November 2016	7th	name !Dave Mackay	9 November 2016
Montrose	name !Paul Hegarty	Sacked	16 November 2016	9th	name !John Holt (caretaker)	16 November 2016
Montrose	name !John Holt (caretaker)	Interim ended	4 December 2016	10th	name !Stewart Petrie	4 December 2016
Clyde	name !Barry Ferguson	Resigned	26 February 2017	8th	name !Bob Malcolm (interim)	26 February 2017
Clyde	Bob Malcolm (interim)	Interim ended	2 March 2017	9th	name !Jon-Paul McGovern & name !Peter MacDonald (joint interim)	2 March 2017
Cowdenbeath	name !Liam Fox	Resigned	6 March 2017	10th	name !Gary Locke	10 March 2017

League Summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Arbroath  (C) (P)	36	18	12	6	63	36	+27	66	Promotion to Scottish League One
2	Forfar Athletic  (P) (O)	36	18	10	8	69	49	+20	64	Qualification to League One play-offs
3	Annan Athletic	36	18	4	14	61	58	+3	58
4	Montrose	36	14	10	12	44	53	−9	52
5	Elgin City	36	14	9	13	67	47	+20	51
6	Stirling Albion	36	12	11	13	50	59	−9	47
7	Edinburgh City	36	11	10	15	38	45	−7	43
8	Berwick Rangers	36	10	10	16	50	65	−15	40
9	Clyde	36	10	8	18	49	64	−15	38
10	Cowdenbeath  (O)	36	9	8	19	40	55	−15	35	Qualification to League Two play-off finals

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Positions by Round

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 2017–18 Scottish League One
	Qualification to League One play-offs
	Qualification to League Two play-offs

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
Arbroath	5	6	4	2	4	4	5	6	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
Forfar Athletic	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2
Annan Athletic	1	5	3	5	6	6	6	5	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	3	4	3	3	3	3
Montrose	9	8	9	9	9	8	8	7	8	8	9	9	9	10	10	9	6	7	9	8	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	5	6	5	4	4	4
Elgin City	4	1	2	6	3	5	3	3	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	4	4	3	4	5	5	5
Stirling Albion	7	7	5	7	8	9	9	8	7	7	7	7	7	9	9	10	8	9	7	6	7	9	8	9	8	7	6	5	5	5	6	5	6	6	6	6
Edinburgh City	7	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	8	8	7	7	6	6	7	8	8	9	8	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	8	7	7	7	7
Berwick Rangers	6	3	6	4	5	3	4	4	5	5	5	5	6	7	7	6	9	10	8	9	9	7	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	9	9	8
Clyde	3	4	7	3	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	2	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	8	8	9	8	9	8	8	8	9
Cowdenbeath	10	9	8	8	7	7	7	9	9	9	8	8	8	6	6	8	10	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source: Statto.com
Updated: 7 May 2017

Results

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 36 games.

First half of season Home \ Away ANN ARB BER CLY COW EDC ELG FOR MON STI Annan Athletic 1–2 3–1 3–2 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–2 2–3 3–2 Arbroath 1–1 1–1 4–0 0–0 0–1 3–2 2–0 0–0 5–3 Berwick Rangers 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–3 2–4 1–2 1–2 3–2 Clyde 2–3 3–2 3–2 5–3 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–1 1–1 Cowdenbeath 2–2 0–2 0–2 1–0 2–0 0–1 3–4 2–0 0–2 Edinburgh City 1–0 3–3 1–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–3 0–1 2–0 Elgin City 0–2 0–1 6–0 0–2 3–1 3–0 2–2 4–1 2–3 Forfar Athletic 5–1 0–1 2–0 4–3 4–3 1–1 3–2 1–3 4–1 Montrose 2–2 1–1 0–0 2–1 1–2 0–1 0–5 1–1 2–2 Stirling Albion 3–1 2–2 0–0 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–4 0–3 2–0 Updated to games played on 2 January 2017 Source: Scottish League 2 1The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away ANN ARB BER CLY COW EDC ELG FOR MON STI Annan Athletic 2–5 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–2 5–1 4–1 Arbroath 1–2 4–1 1–0 4–1 0–1 3–2 0–1 0–1 1–1 Berwick Rangers 4–1 0–2 4–3 1–3 3–2 0–1 3–2 0–1 0–1 Clyde 2–1 1–2 1–1 0–2 3–1 3–2 2–2 1–2 2–3 Cowdenbeath 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–2 Edinburgh City 2–0 0–2 2–2 0–0 1–1 3–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 Elgin City 3–2 0–0 2–2 4–1 0–0 3–1 1–1 1–1 2–2 Forfar Athletic 2–4 1–1 2–3 3–0 3–1 1–2 1–1 0–0 1–1 Montrose 2–3 1–3 2–1 1–1 2–1 3–0 0–3 1–0 1–3 Stirling Albion 1–0 1–1 2–2 3–0 0–3 1–0 1–0 0–3 1–2 Updated to games played on 6 May 2017 Source: Scottish League 2 1The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 6 May 2017

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Shane Sutherland	Elgin City	18
2	Peter MacDonald	Clyde	17
3	Ryan McCord	Arbroath	13
	Steven Thomson	Berwick Rangers
	Brian Cameron	Elgin City
6	Steven Doris	Arbroath	12
	Danny Denholm	Forfar Athletic
8	David McKenna	Annan Athletic	11
	Gary Fraser	Montrose
	David Cox	Forfar Athletic
	Josh Peters	Forfar Athletic
	Darren Smith	Stirling Albion

Source:

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Bobby Linn	Arbroath	Stirling Albion	5–3	02016-08-27-27 August 2016
Shane Sutherland	Elgin City	Berwick Rangers	6–0	02016-12-10-10 December 2016
Shane Sutherland	Elgin City	Edinburgh City	3–1	02017-01-28-28 January 2017
Steven Thomson	Berwick Rangers	Annan Athletic	4–1	02017-02-04-4 February 2017
David Goodwillie	Clyde	Elgin City	3–2	02017-04-15-15 April 2017
Ryan McCord	Arbroath	Elgin City	3–2	02017-04-29-29 April 2017

Discipline

Player

Yellow cards As of matches played on 6 May 2017 Rank Player Club Cards 1 Michael Bolochoweckyj Montrose 12 2 Mark Nicolson Elgin City 10 Terry Masson Montrose 4 Kyle Miller Cowdenbeath 9 David Gormley Clyde 6 Darren Lavery Berwick Rangers 8 Sean Higgins Clyde Aaron Dunsmore Edinburgh City Ryan Porteous Edinburgh City Martyn Fotheringham Forfar Athletic Gavin Swankie Forfar Athletic Source:

Red cards As of matches played on 6 May 2017 Rank Player Club Cards 1 Michael McKenna Berwick Rangers 3 2 Darren Ramsay Annan Athletic 2 Ricky Little Arbroath Jassem Sukar Arbroath Gary Fraser Montrose Terry Masson Montrose Source:

Club

Yellow cards As of matches played on 6 May 2017 Rank Club Cards 1 Forfar Athletic 72 2 Berwick Rangers 68 Clyde Source:

Red cards As of matches played on 6 May 2017 Rank Club Cards 1 Berwick Rangers 9 2 Montrose 8 3 Forfar Athletic 6 Source:

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Annan Athletic	6,955	461	241	386	-0.86353467561521−13.6%†
2	Arbroath	13,078	1,731	482	726	0.11520737327189+11.5%†
3	Berwick Rangers	7,679	695	302	426	-0.92407809110629−7.5%†
4	Clyde	9,472	738	365	526	-0.85947712418301−14.0%†
5	Cowdenbeath	6,216	571	258	345	-0.57983193277311−42.0%†
6	Edinburgh City	7,212	590	256	400	n/a†
7	Elgin City	12,366	1,091	519	687	-0.93342391304348−6.6%†
8	Forfar Athletic	10,861	1,564	337	638	-0.91404011461318−8.5%†
9	Montrose	10,901	1,324	283	605	0.070796460176991+7.0%†
10	Stirling Albion	11,508	1,748	412	639	0.037337662337662+3.7%†
	League total	96,248	1,748	241	537	-0.96756756756757−3.2%†

Updated to games played on 6 May 2017
Source: .

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Gary Bollan	Forfar Athletic	Josh Peters	Forfar Athletic
September	Gary Bollan	Forfar Athletic	Thomas O'Brien	Forfar Athletic
October	Jim Weir	Elgin City	Shane Sutherland	Elgin City
November	Gary Jardine	Edinburgh City	Marc Laird	Edinburgh City
December	Gary Jardine	Edinburgh City	Andrew Stobie	Edinburgh City
January	Gary Bollan	Forfar Athletic	Shane Sutherland	Elgin City
February	Jim Chapman	Annan Athletic	Gavin Skelton	Annan Athletic
March	Dave Mackay	Stirling Albion	Greg Rutherford	Berwick Rangers
April

League Two play-offs

The first round will be contested between the winners of the 2016–17 Highland Football League and the 2016–17 Lowland Football League. The winners will then play off against the bottom club in League Two, swapping with them and being promoted to League Two for the 2017–18 season if they win.

East Kilbride qualified for the first round after a 6–1 win against Gala Fairydean Rovers on 1 April 2017 secured them the Lowland Football League title. Buckie Thistle qualified for the first round after a 9–0 win against Strathspey Thistle on 22 April 2017 secured them the Highland Football League title. Cowdenbeath's participation in the play-offs was confirmed on 6 May 2017, after a 0–0 draw with Elgin City on the final day of the League Two season left the club in 10th position.

Semi-finals

First leg

29 April 2017	Buckie Thistle	2 – 2	East Kilbride	Buckie
15:00	Angus  9' Urquhart  31' (pen.)	BBC Sport report	Victoria  44' McLean  85'	Stadium: Victoria Park Referee: David Munro

Second leg

6 May 2017	East Kilbride	2 – 1 (4–3 agg.)	Buckie Thistle	East Kilbride
15:00	Winter  5' Strachan  21'	BBC Sport report	Proctor  31' (o.g.) Copeland  44' Angus  80'	Stadium: K-Park Training Academy

Final

First leg

13 May 2017	East Kilbride	0–0	Cowdenbeath	East Kilbride
15:00		BBC Sport report		Stadium: K-Park Training Academy Referee: Gavin Duncan

Second leg

20 May 2017	Cowdenbeath	1 – 1 (1–1 agg.) (5 – 3 pen)	East Kilbride	Cowdenbeath
14:00	Mullen  3'	BBC Sport report	Gibbons  64'	Stadium: Central Park Attendance: 1,676 Referee: Craig Charleston
	Penalties
	Mullen Renton Syme Johnston Henderson		Strachan McLean Woods Victoria