2018–19 Lowland Football League

The 2018–19 Scottish Lowland Football League (known as the Geosonic Lowland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 6th season of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. The season began on 28 July 2018 and ended on 20 April 2019. Spartans were the defending champions.

Lowland League

Season	2018–19
Dates	27 July 2018 – 20 April 2019
Champions	East Kilbride
Relegated	Whitehill Welfare
Matches played	210
Goals scored	714 (3.4 per match)
Top goalscorer	Craig Malcolm (25 goals) East Kilbride
Biggest home win	Spartans 6–0 Vale of Leithen (7 December 2018) Gala Fairydean Rovers 6–0 Vale of Leithen (29 December 2018)
Biggest away win	Whitehill Welfare 0–6 Kelty Hearts (31 July 2018) Gretna 2008 0–6 Civil Service Strollers (8 December 2018) Vale of Leithen 0–6 Edinburgh University (13 April 2019)
Highest scoring	Vale of Leithen 5–4 Edusport Academy (5 January 2019)
Longest winning run	14 matches: East Kilbride
Longest unbeaten run	19 matches: BSC Glasgow
Longest winless run	20 matches: Whitehill Welfare
Longest losing run	6 matches: Whitehill Welfare
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

East of Scotland League champions Kelty Hearts joined the league after becoming the first club to gain promotion via the Lowland League play-off, thanks to their win against South of Scotland League winners Threave Rovers at the end of the previous season.

Selkirk resigned at the end of August after fulfilling three league games, reducing the number of clubs to 15. Their league defeats to East Kilbride (10–0), Civil Service Strollers (0–5) and Gretna 2008 (0–8) were expunged.[1]

East Kilbride won their second league title on 26 March 2019 thanks to a 2–1 win over Spartans at K-Park, with three matches still to play. They faced the winners of the 2018–19 Highland Football League (Cove Rangers) in the Pyramid play-off, losing 5-1 on aggregate.

Teams

BSC Glasgow

Civil Service

Cumbernauld Colts

Dalbeattie Star

East Kilbride

East Stirlingshire

Edinburgh Uni

Edusport Academy

Gala FR

Gretna 2008

Kelty Hearts

Selkirk

Spartans

Stirling Uni

Vale of Leithen

Whitehill Welfare

Location of teams in 2018–19 Scottish Lowland Football League

The following teams have changed division since the 2017–18 season.

To Lowland League

Promoted from East of Scotland League

• Kelty Hearts

From Lowland League

Relegated to East of Scotland League

• Hawick Royal Albert

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Seats	Floodlit
BSC Glasgow	Alloa	Recreation Park[2]	3,100	919	Yes
Civil Service Strollers	Edinburgh	Christie Gillies Park	1,569	100	No
Cumbernauld Colts	Cumbernauld	Broadwood Stadium	7,936	7,936	Yes
Dalbeattie Star	Dalbeattie	Islecroft Stadium	4,000	250	Yes
East Kilbride	East Kilbride	K Park	660	400	Yes
East Stirlingshire	Falkirk	Falkirk Stadium[3]	7,937	7,937	Yes
Edinburgh University	Edinburgh	New Peffermill Stadium	1,100	100	Yes
Edusport Academy	Annan	Galabank[4]	2,504	500	Yes
Gala Fairydean Rovers	Galashiels	3G Arena, Netherdale	5,500	495	Yes
Gretna 2008	Gretna	Raydale Park	3,000	1,318	Yes
Kelty Hearts	Kelty	New Central Park	3,000	350	Yes
Selkirk	Selkirk	Yarrow Park	1,000	100	No
Spartans	Edinburgh	Ainslie Park	3,000	504	Yes
Stirling University	Stirling	Forthbank Stadium[5]	3,808	2,508	Yes
Vale of Leithen	Innerleithen	Victoria Park	1,500	0	No
Whitehill Welfare	Rosewell	Ferguson Park	4,000	150	No

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	East Kilbride (C)	28	23	3	2	66	12	+54	72	Qualification for the Pyramid play-off
2	BSC Glasgow	28	18	7	3	67	29	+38	61
3	Kelty Hearts	28	16	6	6	61	32	+29	54
4	Spartans	28	14	9	5	63	31	+32	51
5	Civil Service Strollers	28	15	4	9	51	38	+13	49
6	East Stirlingshire	28	11	6	11	57	47	+10	39
7	Cumbernauld Colts	28	11	6	11	40	47	−7	39
8	Gala Fairydean Rovers	28	10	4	14	43	48	−5	34
9	Edusport Academy	28	9	6	13	43	52	−9	33
10	Stirling University	28	7	10	11	43	50	−7	31
11	Edinburgh University	28	7	9	12	38	54	−16	30
12	Gretna 2008	28	9	2	17	42	67	−25	29
13	Vale of Leithen	28	8	5	15	43	74	−31	29
14	Dalbeattie Star	28	5	7	16	33	63	−30	22
15	Whitehill Welfare (R)	28	2	6	20	24	70	−46	12	Relegation to East of Scotland League
16	Selkirk[lower-alpha 1]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Club resigned, record expunged

Source: SLFL BBC Sport Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. After failing to fulfil three fixtures, Selkirk resigned from the league on 28 August 2018 due to insurmountable difficulties.[6] Selkirk's record was expunged following a meeting of the Lowland League board on 3 September 2018.[7]

Results

Home \ Away	BSC	CSS	CUM	DBS	EKB	EST	EDU	EDA	GFR	G08	KEL	SEL	SPA	SLU	VOL	WHW
BSC Glasgow		1–1	2–2	4–1	0–3	2–0	5–0	2–2	1–0	3–0	2–3		3–2	6–1	4–0	5–0
Civil Service Strollers	1–2		1–0	1–0	3–1	3–4	5–0	1–0	2–2	2–1	0–1		0–2	1–0	0–0	3–1
Cumbernauld Colts	1–2	3–0		3–0	0–3	3–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–4	3–2		0–2	1–0	2–1	2–0
Dalbeattie Star	2–1	3–4	0–1		1–3	2–2	2–3	1–2	4–2	2–1	2–1		2–2	0–0	1–1	1–1
East Kilbride	1–2	2–1	0–0	3–0		2–0	3–0	2–0	3–0	5–0	4–0		2–1	2–0	5–1	3–1
East Stirlingshire	1–1	3–4	3–1	2–0	0–2		1–2	1–2	0–3	2–0	3–3		1–1	2–2	2–3	4–0
Edinburgh University	2–2	1–3	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–2		0–2	0–1	3–2	1–3		1–1	1–5	4–3	0–1
Edusport Academy	2–2	2–0	2–3	4–0	0–1	1–3	2–2		1–2	1–5	0–1		0–5	2–4	2–0	4–1
Gala Fairydean Rovers	1–3	0–2	1–2	3–2	0–2	2–2	1–1	0–2		0–2	0–1		3–1	3–1	6–0	3–1
Gretna 2008	0–0	0–6	1–3	5–2	0–2	1–2	0–3	2–1	2–4		1–3		0–4	1–1	4–1	2–1
Kelty Hearts	0–3	4–0	1–0	2–2	0–3	2–0	2–2	5–0	2–0	4–0			1–1	2–2	0–0	6–1
Selkirk
Spartans	0–1	1–1	6–2	4–0	0–0	4–3	3–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–1			2–2	6–0	1–0
Stirling University	2–3	2–0	1–1	2–2	1–4	0–6	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–2	0–1		4–2		2–2	2–0
Vale of Leithen	0–3	1–4	5–0	3–0	0–1	0–3	0–6	5–4	4–2	6–1	0–4		1–4	1–0		2–2
Whitehill Welfare	1–2	1–2	2–2	3–0	0–3	0–3	2–2	0–1	1–1	2–4	0–6		1–1	0–3	2–3

Updated to match(es) played on 20 April 2019. Source: SLFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Lowland League play-off

A play-off was due to take place between the winners of the 2018–19 East of Scotland Football League and the 2018–19 South of Scotland Football League. However South of Scotland League champions Stranraer reserves were ineligible for promotion due to being a reserve team.

Initially, the winners of the East of Scotland League (Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic) did not meet the required licensing criteria for promotion at the end of the season. However they were eventually awarded their SFA licence on 14 June 2019[8] and were confirmed as promoted to the 2019–20 Lowland Football League on the same day.[9]

References

1. "Selkirk's Resignation: What Happens Next?". Scottish Lowland Football League. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
2. BSC Glasgow are ground-sharing at Alloa Athletic's Recreation Park due to the lack of a suitable venue in Glasgow.
3. East Stirlingshire are ground-sharing with Falkirk at the Falkirk Stadium for the duration of the 2018–19 season.
4. Edusport Academy are ground-sharing with Annan Athletic.
5. Stirling University are ground-sharing with Stirling Albion.
6. "Selkirk FC Resign from Scottish Lowland League". Scottish Lowland Football League. 28 August 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
7. "Selkirk's Resignation: What Happens Next?". Scottish Lowland Football League. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
8. "CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT - Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic granted SFA membership - News - Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic - Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic FC". www.bonnyriggrosefc.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
9. "Statement - Promotion and Relegation". Scottish Lowland League. 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2019-06-14.