2007–08 Scottish Third Division

Scottish Football League Third Division
Season 2007–08
Champions East Fife
Promoted East Fife
Stranraer
Arbroath
Relegated n/a
Matches played 180
Goals scored 526 (2.92 per match)
Biggest home win East Fife 7–0 Stenhousemuir
(29 September 2007)
Biggest away win Elgin City 0–5 Stranraer
(27 February 2008)
Highest scoring East Stirlingshire 4–5 Albion Rovers
(8 December 2007)
Longest winning run 8 games
East Fife
Longest unbeaten run 11 games
Arbroath
East Fife
Longest winless run 12 games
East Stirlingshire
Longest losing run 10 games
East Stirlingshire

The 2007–08 Scottish Football League Third Division was the 13th season in the format of ten teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The season started on 4 August 2007 and ended on 26 April 2008. East Fife F.C. finished top and were promoted alongside Arbroath F.C. as play-off winners. Stranraer F.C. were also promoted due to Gretna being demoted to the Third Division.

Contents

Teams for 2007–08

Berwick Rangers as champions of the 2006–07 season were directly promoted to the 2007–08 Scottish Second Division. They were replaced by Forfar Athletic who finished bottom of the 2006–07 Scottish Second Division.

A second promotion place was available via a play-off tournament between the ninth-placed team of the 2006–07 Scottish Second Division, Stranraer, and the sides ranked second, third and fourth in the 2006–07 Scottish Third Division, Arbroath, Queen's Park and East Fife respectively. The play off was won by Queen's Park who defeated East Fife in the final. Stranraer were therefore relegated.

Overview

Relegated from Second Division to Third Division

Promoted from Third Division to Second Division

Stadia and attendances

Team Stadium Capacity Highest Lowest Average
East Fife Bayview Stadium 2,000 1,300 540 769
Arbroath Gayfield Park 6,488 959 421 611
Montrose Links Park 3,292 1,470 321 597
Dumbarton Strathclyde Homes Stadium 2,025 907 258 559
Elgin City Borough Briggs 3,927 624 301 471
Stenhousemuir Ochilview Park 3,776 755 212 414
Forfar Athletic Station Park 5,177 615 270 410
East Stirlingshire Firs Park 1,800 791 235 377
Albion Rovers Cliftonhill 1,249 512 186 307
Stranraer Stair Park 5,600 487 117 255

Source: The League Insider

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment
Stenhousemuir Campbell Money Resigned 29 September 2007 John Coughlin 12 October 2007
Ayr United Neil Watt Resigned 23 October 2007 Brian Reid 24 October 2007
Dumbarton Gerry McCabe Sacked 11 November 2007 Jim Chapman 31 December 2007
East Stirlingshire Gordon Wylde Resigned 28 February 2008 Jim McInally 13 March 2008
Forfar Athletic Jim Moffat Mutual consent 21 April[1] Dick Campbell 8 May[2]
Berwick Rangers Michael Renwick Sacked 28 February[3] Allan McGonigal 13 May[4]

Table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 East Fife (C) (P) 36 28 4 4 77 24 +53 88 Second Division
2 Stranraer (P) 36 19 8 9 65 43 +22 65 Second Division Play-offs
3 Montrose 36 17 8 11 59 36 +23 59
4 Arbroath (O) (P) 36 14 10 12 54 47 +7 52
5 Stenhousemuir 36 13 9 14 50 59 −9 48
6 Elgin City 36 13 8 15 56 68 −12 47
7 Albion Rovers 36 9 10 17 51 68 −17 37
8 Dumbarton 36 9 10 17 31 48 −17 37
9 East Stirlingshire 36 10 4 22 48 71 −23 34
10 Forfar Athletic 36 8 9 19 35 62 −27 33

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Second Division Play-offs:The 9th placed team were entered into a play-off with the Third Division's 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams. The winning team were awarded a place in the 2008-09 Second Division, Cowdenbeath were relegated and Arbroath were promoted. With Gretna being relegated to the Third Division, Stranraer were also promoted.
Relegation: Had East Stirlingshire finished bottom of the table for what would have been a sixth consecutive time, they would have lost their Scottish Football League status, they finished second bottom.
Stranraer: won promotion to Second Division after Gretna were relegated to the Third Division.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Teams play each other four times in this league. In the first half of the season each team plays every other team twice (home and away) and then do the same in the second half of the season.

First half of season

Home \ Away1 ALB ARB DUM EFI EST ELG FOR MON STE STR
Albion Rovers 5–2 2–0 1–4 2–3 3–4 2–1 1–3 1–1 3–2
Arbroath 1–0 1–1 2–3 2–0 4–0 3–4 0–0 2–2 2–2
Dumbarton 2–0 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–0 0–0 1–3 1–2 0–2
East Fife 4–0 0–2 2–0 3–1 4–0 3–0 2–0 7–0 3–1
East Stirlingshire 4–5 2–3 3–2 0–2 3–1 2–1 0–3 1–1 2–3
Elgin City 3–2 1–3 2–1 2–3 6–0 2–2 0–2 2–0 0–5
Forfar Athletic 1–0 1–3 3–1 0–2 0–2 4–0 1–4 0–1 1–1
Montrose 0–1 3–3 0–1 3–1 3–1 0–0 0–1 1–0 2–4
Stenhousemuir 0–1 1–0 2–1 2–1 0–3 2–3 4–0 0–4 1–4
Stranraer 3–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 2–1 3–3 3–0 1–0 2–3

Source: BBC Sport
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 \ Away1 ALB ARB DUM EFI EST ELG FOR MON STE STR
Albion Rovers 0–2 0–1 2–2 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–3 3–3 1–1
Arbroath 1–4 0–0 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–1 2–1 1–0 0–0
Dumbarton 2–0 2–1 0–3 1–0 1–4 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–1
East Fife 0–0 2–1 2–1 1–0 2–0 3–0 0–0 0–1 2–1
East Stirlingshire 3–0 0–1 1–1 0–3 0–0 4–1 3–1 3–4 1–3
Elgin City 1–1 2–1 2–1 1–2 3–0 3–1 2–1 1–5 2–3
Forfar Athletic 1–4 1–0 1–1 2–3 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–2 1–0
Montrose 2–1 5–0 3–1 0–1 2–0 3–2 2–2 2–1 0–2
Stenhousemuir 2–2 0–3 1–1 0–1 3–0 2–2 2–0 0–0 1–1
Stranraer 3–0 0–3 2–0 0–2 2–1 0–0 2–1 0–2 3–1

Updated to games played on 27 April
Source: BBC Sport
1The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Scorer Goals Team
John Baird 18 Montrose
Paul McManus 17 East Fife
Michael Mullen 13 Stranraer
Roddy Hunter 12 Montrose
Darren Shallicker Elgin City
Andrew Brand 11 East Stirlingshire
John Gemmell Albion Rovers
Brian Scott Arbroath
Gregory Tade Stranraer
Joseph Savage 10 East Stirlingshire
Kenny Wright Albion Rovers
Scott Dalziel 9 Stenhousemuir
William Martin 8 Albion Rovers
Barry Sellars Arbroath
Douglas Cameron East Fife
Greig McDonald 7 East Fife

Source: The League Insider

Events

Monthly awards

Month Third Division manager SFL Player SFL Young player
August Gordon Wylde (East Stirlingshire) First Division player First Division player
September John McGlashan (Arbroath) Second Division player First Division player
October David Baikie (East Fife) First Division player First Division player
November David Baikie (East Fife) First Division player Scott Fox (East Fife)
December Gerry Britton (Stranraer) Second Division player First Division player
January David Baikie (East Fife) Second Division player First Division player
February Derek Ferguson (Stranraer) First Division player First Division player
March Robbie Williamson (Elgin City) First Division player First Division player
April Derek Ferguson (Stranraer) First Division player First Division player

Second Division play-offs

References