2015–16 Lowland Football League

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.

Lowland League
Season2015–16
ChampionsEdinburgh City
PromotedEdinburgh City
RelegatedThreave Rovers
Matches played210
Goals scored786 (3.74 per match)
Top goalscorerRoss Allum
(Edinburgh City)
(27 goals)
Longest winning run8 matches:
Edinburgh City
Longest unbeaten run18 matches:
Edinburgh City
Longest losing run17 matches:
Threave Rovers

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

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

To Lowland League

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Transferred from Caledonian Amateur Football League

Stadia and Locations

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ Broomhill SC Glasgow Archived 2015-06-24 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  2. ^ Cumbernauld Colts, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  3. ^ Dalbeattie Star, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  4. ^ East Kilbride, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  5. ^ Edinburgh City Archived 2013-08-14 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  6. ^ Edinburgh University, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  7. ^ Gala Fairydean Rovers, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  8. ^ Gretna 2008, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  9. ^ Preston Athletic, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  10. ^ Selkirk Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  11. ^ Spartans, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  12. ^ Stirling University, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  13. ^ Threave Rovers, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  14. ^ Vale of Leithen, nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  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.