2007–08 Scottish Third Division

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.

Scottish Football League Third Division
Season2007–08
ChampionsEast Fife
PromotedEast Fife
Stranraer
Arbroath
Relegatedn/a
Matches played180
Goals scored526 (2.92 per match)
Biggest home winEast Fife 7–0 Stenhousemuir
(29 September 2007)
Biggest away winElgin City 0–5 Stranraer
(27 February 2008)
Highest scoringEast Stirlingshire 4–5 Albion Rovers
(8 December 2007)
Longest winning run8 games
East Fife
Longest unbeaten run11 games
Arbroath
East Fife
Longest winless run12 games
East Stirlingshire
Longest losing run10 games
East Stirlingshire

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 FifeBayview Stadium2,0001,300540769
ArbroathGayfield Park6,488959421611
MontroseLinks Park3,2921,470321597
DumbartonStrathclyde Homes Stadium2,025907258559
Elgin CityBorough Briggs3,927624301471
StenhousemuirOchilview Park3,776755212414
Forfar AthleticStation Park5,177615270410
East StirlingshireFirs Park1,800791235377
Albion RoversCliftonhill1,249512186307
StranraerStair Park5,600487117255

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 AthleticScotland Jim MoffatMutual consent21 April[1]Scotland Dick Campbell8 May[2]
Berwick RangersScotland Michael RenwickSacked28 February[3]Scotland Allan McGonigal13 May[4]

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or qualification
1 East Fife (C, P) 36 28 4 4 77 24 +53 88 Promotion to the Second Division
2 Stranraer[lower-alpha 1] (P) 36 19 8 9 65 43 +22 65 Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs[lower-alpha 2]
3 Montrose 36 17 8 11 59 36 +23 59
4 Arbroath (P, O) 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[lower-alpha 3] 36 10 4 22 48 71 23 34
10 Forfar Athletic 36 8 9 19 35 62 27 33
Source: SPFL archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. Stranraer won promotion to Second Division after Gretna were relegated to the Third Division.
  2. The 9th placed Second Division 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.
  3. 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.

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 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
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home \ Away 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 match(es) played on 27 April. Source: BBC Sport
Legend: 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
AprilScotland 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 8 May 2008.
  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 13 May 2008.
  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 22 May 2008.
  8. "Gretna demoted to Division Three". BBC Sport. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008.
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