2009–10 Scottish Third Division

The 2009–10 Scottish Football League Third Division (also known as the 2009–10 Irn-Bru Scottish Football League Third Division for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season in the format of ten teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The season started on 8 August 2009 and ended on 1 May 2010. Livingston F.C. finished top and were promoted alongside Forfar Athletic as play-off winners.

Irn-Bru Scottish Third Division
Season2009–10
ChampionsLivingston
PromotedLivingston
Forfar Athletic
Relegatedn/a
Matches played180
Goals scored460 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorerCraig Gunn (18)
Biggest home winForfar Athletic 5–1 East Stirlingshire
(29 August 2009)
East Stirlingshire 4–0 Forfar Athletic
(6 March 2010)
Montrose 4–0 Forfar Athletic
(16 March 2010)
Biggest away winElgin City 1–6 Livingston
(7 November 2009)
Montrose 0–5 Livingston
(24 April 2010)
Highest scoringMontrose 4–5 Stranraer
(16 February 2010)
Longest winning run8 games
East Stirlingshire
Longest unbeaten run12 games
Livingston
Longest winless run19 games
Montrose
Longest losing run4 games
Albion Rovers
Annan Athletic
East Stirlingshire
Livingston

Teams

Promotion and relegation from 2008–09
Location of teams in 2009-10 Scottish Third Division

Dumbarton as champions of the 2008–09 season were directly promoted to the 2009–10 Scottish Second Division. They were replaced by Stranraer who finished bottom of the 2008–09 Scottish Second Division.

A second promotion place was available via a play-off tournament between the ninth-placed team of the 2008–09 Scottish Second Division, Queen's Park, and the sides ranked second, third and fourth in the 2008–09 Scottish Third Division, Cowdenbeath, East Stirlingshire and Stenhousemuir respectively. The play off was won by Stenhousemuir who defeated Cowdenbeath in the final. Queen's Park were therefore relegated. However, Livingston F.C. were demoted to the Third Division, leading to an extra promotion being awarded.[1] Cowdenbeath as runners-up of the play-off final were therefore promoted.

Relegated from First Division to Third Division

Relegated from Second Division to Third Division

Promoted from Third Division to Second Division

Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity[2]
Albion RoversCoatbridgeCliftonhill2,496
Annan AthleticAnnanGalabank3,000
LivingstonLivingstonAlmondvale Stadium10,005
Berwick RangersBerwick-upon-TweedShielfield Park4,065
Forfar AthleticForfarStation Park5,177
East StirlingshireStenhousemuirOchilview Park[A]3,746
Elgin CityElginBorough Briggs3,716
MontroseMontroseLinks Park3,292
Queen's ParkGlasgowHampden Park52,025
StranraerStranraerStair Park6,250

A.^ East Stirlingshire ground shared with Stenhousemuir.[3]

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or qualification
1 Livingston (C, P) 36 24 6 6 63 25 +38 78 Promotion to the Second Division
2 Forfar Athletic (P, O) 36 18 9 9 59 44 +15 63 Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs[lower-alpha 1]
3 East Stirlingshire 36 19 4 13 50 46 +4 61
4 Queen's Park 36 15 6 15 42 42 0 51
5 Albion Rovers 36 13 11 12 35 35 0 50
6 Berwick Rangers 36 14 8 14 46 50 −4 50
7 Stranraer 36 13 8 15 48 54 −6 47
8 Annan Athletic 36 11 10 15 41 42 −1 43
9 Elgin City 36 9 7 20 46 59 −13 34
10 Montrose 36 5 9 22 30 63 −33 24
Source: Scottish Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams will be entered into a play-off with the Second Division's 9th placed team. The winning team will be awarded a place in the 2010–11 Second Division.

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 ANN BER EST ELG FOR LIV MON QPA STR
Albion Rovers 0–0 2–1 3–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–1 3–1
Annan Athletic 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–2 1–0 0–0 2–0 3–1 1–0
Berwick Rangers 2–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0
East Stirlingshire 2–0 1–3 1–0 1–1 2–1 3–1 1–0 1–0 1–1
Elgin City 0–2 1–1 3–3 1–2 0–2 1–6 0–1 0–1 1–2
Forfar Athletic 2–2 2–1 2–0 5–1 3–3 0–1 2–2 0–1 1–0
Livingston 2–0 2–0 1–1 2–0 3–2 1–2 2–0 2–1 3–0
Montrose 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–3 1–1 1–2 0–3 1–2 1–1
Queen's Park 0–1 0–0 2–0 1–0 0–3 2–2 1–2 3–2 1–2
Stranraer 1–1 2–0 2–4 1–2 0–2 1–0 0–3 2–0 1–1
Updated to match(es) played on 12 April 2010. Source: Scottish Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season
Home \ Away ALB ANN BER EST ELG FOR LIV MON QPA STR
Albion Rovers 1–0 4–1 2–1 1–2 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–0 0–0
Annan Athletic 1–2 0–1 1–0 3–3 1–1 2–0 0–0 0–2 3–2
Berwick Rangers 1–2 0–2 2–2 2–1 0–4 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–0
East Stirlingshire 3–1 3–1 3–2 2–0 4–0 0–2 2–3 0–3 2–0
Elgin City 3–1 1–0 1–5 0–1 0–2 0–1 5–2 0–1 2–3
Forfar Athletic 1–1 1–5 3–0 4–1 1–0 2–2 2–0 1–1 2–0
Livingston 2–0 3–2 0–0 1–0 1–0 2–3 1–0 2–0 2–1
Montrose 0–0 1–2 1–1 0–1 0–4 4–0 0–5 1–2 4–5
Queen's Park 1–0 3–2 2–3 2–0 0–1 1–3 0–1 3–0 2–5
Stranraer 2–1 3–2 3–1 2–2 2–1 2–0 1–1 0–2 0–0
Updated to match(es) played on 1 May 2010. Source: Scottish Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References
  1. Livi lose appeal against the drop, BBC Sport. 2009-09-07.
  2. "Scottish Football League: News From Your Club". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2011-08-05.
  3. East Stirlingshire FC Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, www.eaststirlingshirefc.com Retrieved 2011-05-25.
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