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.

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 Scotland Campbell Money Resigned 29 September 2007 Scotland John Coughlin 12 October 2007
Ayr United Scotland Neil Watt Resigned 23 October 2007 Scotland Brian Reid 24 October 2007
Dumbarton Scotland Gerry McCabe Sacked 11 November 2007 Scotland Jim Chapman 31 December 2007
East Stirlingshire Scotland Gordon Wylde Resigned 28 February 2008 Scotland Jim McInally 13 March 2008
Forfar Athletic Scotland Jim Moffat Mutual consent 21 April[1] Scotland Dick Campbell 8 May[2]
Berwick Rangers Scotland Michael Renwick Sacked 28 February[3] Scotland 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 50 599 48
6 Elgin City 36 13 8 15 56 6812 47
7 Albion Rovers 36 9 10 17 51 6817 37
8 Dumbarton 36 9 10 17 31 4817 37
9 East Stirlingshire 36 10 4 22 48 7123 34
10 Forfar Athletic 36 8 9 19 35 6227 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; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament 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 ╲ Away ALB ARB DUMEFIESTELGFORMONSTESTR
Albion Rovers 52 20 14 23 34 21 13 11 32
Arbroath 10 11 23 20 40 34 00 22 22
Dumbarton 20 11 11 31 10 00 13 12 02
East Fife 40 02 20 31 40 30 20 70 31
East Stirlingshire 45 23 32 02 31 21 03 11 23
Elgin City 32 13 21 23 60 22 02 20 05
Forfar Athletic 10 13 31 02 02 40 14 01 11
Montrose 01 33 01 31 31 00 01 10 24
Stenhousemuir 01 10 21 21 03 23 40 04 14
Stranraer 31 11 20 02 21 33 30 10 23

Source: BBC Sport
1 ^ The 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 ALB ARB DUMEFIESTELGFORMONSTESTR
Albion Rovers 02 01 22 22 11 00 03 33 11
Arbroath 14 00 01 01 20 11 21 10 00
Dumbarton 20 21 03 10 14 00 00 10 01
East Fife 00 21 21 10 20 30 00 01 21
East Stirlingshire 30 01 11 03 00 41 31 34 13
Elgin City 11 21 21 12 30 31 21 15 23
Forfar Athletic 14 10 11 23 10 01 11 12 10
Montrose 21 50 31 01 20 32 22 21 02
Stenhousemuir 22 03 11 01 30 22 20 00 11
Stranraer 30 03 20 02 21 00 21 02 31

Updated to games played on 27 April.
Source: BBC Sport
1 ^ The 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
Scotland John Baird 18 Montrose
Scotland Paul McManus 17 East Fife
Scotland Michael Mullen 13 Stranraer
Scotland Roddy Hunter 12 Montrose
Scotland Darren Shallicker Elgin City
Scotland Andrew Brand 11 East Stirlingshire
Scotland John Gemmell Albion Rovers
Scotland Brian Scott Arbroath
France Gregory Tade Stranraer
Scotland Joseph Savage 10 East Stirlingshire
Scotland Kenny Wright Albion Rovers
Scotland Scott Dalziel 9 Stenhousemuir
Scotland William Martin 8 Albion Rovers
Scotland Barry Sellars Arbroath
Scotland Douglas Cameron East Fife
Scotland Greig McDonald 7 East Fife

Source: The League Insider

Events

Monthly awards

Month Third Division manager SFL Player SFL Young player
AugustScotland Gordon Wylde (East Stirlingshire)First Division playerFirst Division player
SeptemberScotland John McGlashan (Arbroath)Second Division playerFirst Division player
OctoberEngland David Baikie (East Fife)First Division playerFirst Division player
NovemberEngland David Baikie (East Fife)First Division playerScotland Scott Fox (East Fife)
DecemberScotland Gerry Britton (Stranraer)Second Division playerFirst Division player
JanuaryEngland David Baikie (East Fife)Second Division playerFirst Division player
FebruaryScotland Derek Ferguson (Stranraer)First Division playerFirst Division player
MarchScotland Robbie Williamson (Elgin City)First Division playerFirst Division player
April Scotland Derek Ferguson (Stranraer) First Division playerFirst Division player

Second Division play-offs

References

  1. "Forfar exit for manager Moffat". BBC Sport website. 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 27 April 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  2. "Campbell takes the helm at Forfar". BBC Sport. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  3. "Berwick part company with Renwick". BBC Sport website. 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 26 April 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  4. "McGonigal takes over at Berwick". BBC Sport. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  5. "East Stirlingshire 0–3 East Fife". BBC Sport. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  6. "Berwick Rangers 2–2 Peterhead". BBC Sport. 28 March 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
  7. "Stranraer 1–0 Arbroath (1–2)". BBC Sport. 10 May 2008. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  8. "Gretna demoted to Division Three". BBC Sport. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
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