2021–22 Highland Football League

The 2021–22 Highland Football League (known as the Breedon Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 119th season of the Highland Football League, and the 8th season as part of the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Brora Rangers were the reigning champions.

Breedon Highland League
Season2021–22
Dates24 July 2021 – 23 April 2022
ChampionsFraserburgh
RelegatedFort William
Matches played306
Goals scored1,223 (4 per match)
Biggest home winFraserburgh 12–0 Fort William
(11 December 2021)
Biggest away winFort William 0–8 Brora Rangers
(21 August 2021)
Forres Mechanics 0–8 Brora Rangers
(9 March 2022)
Highest scoringFort William 3–10 Inverurie Loco Works
(11 September 2021)
Longest winning run23 matches:
Buckie Thistle
Longest unbeaten run25 matches:
Buckie Thistle
Longest winless run31 matches:
Fort William
Longest losing run10 matches:
Fort William & Turriff United

The title was decided during the final round of fixtures with Fraserburgh taking their first league title in twenty seasons thanks to a 5–0 victory over Forres Mechanics. They won the title by three points ahead of Buckie Thistle, who recorded a run of 23 consecutive victories during the campaign, a Highland League record.[1]

Fraserburgh played the winners of the 2021–22 Lowland Football League (Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic) in the Pyramid play-off, losing 3–2 on aggregate.

Teams
Location of teams in 2021–22 Highland Football League

To Highland League

Relegated from League Two

Stadia and locations

All grounds are equipped with floodlights as required by league regulations.

Team Location Stadium Capacity Seats
Brechin City Brechin Glebe Park 4,083 1,519
Brora Rangers Brora Dudgeon Park 4,000 200
Buckie Thistle Buckie Victoria Park 5,000 400
Clachnacuddin Inverness Grant Street Park 2,074 154
Deveronvale Banff Princess Royal Park 2,600 360
Formartine United Pitmedden North Lodge Park 2,500 300
Forres Mechanics Forres Mosset Park 2,700 502
Fort William Fort William Claggan Park[lower-alpha 1] 4,000 400
Fraserburgh Fraserburgh Bellslea Park 3,000 480
Huntly Huntly Christie Park 2,200 270
Inverurie Loco Works Inverurie Harlaw Park 2,500 250
Keith Keith Kynoch Park 4,000 370
Lossiemouth Lossiemouth Grant Park 2,050 250
Nairn County Nairn Station Park 2,250 250
Rothes Rothes Mackessack Park 2,700 184
Strathspey Thistle Grantown-on-Spey Seafield Park 1,600 150
Turriff United Turriff The Haughs 2,135 135
Wick Academy Wick Harmsworth Park 2,412 102

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Fraserburgh (C) 34 30 2 2 135 24 +111 92 Qualification for the Pyramid play-off
2 Buckie Thistle 34 29 2 3 127 21 +106 89
3 Brechin City 34 28 1 5 102 27 +75 85
4 Brora Rangers 34 25 2 7 117 36 +81 77
5 Rothes 34 21 6 7 75 31 +44 69
6 Formartine United 34 21 6 7 80 46 +34 69
7 Inverurie Loco Works 34 19 6 9 77 47 +30 63
8 Nairn County 34 11 6 17 61 70 −9 39
9 Wick Academy 34 10 9 15 55 85 −30 39
10 Huntly 34 10 7 17 53 67 −14 37
11 Clachnacuddin 34 10 7 17 51 80 −29 37
12 Forres Mechanics 34 8 10 16 45 80 −35 34
13 Keith 34 10 4 20 36 88 −52 34
14 Deveronvale 34 9 5 20 55 94 −39 32
15 Lossiemouth 34 8 6 20 32 83 −51 30
16 Strathspey Thistle 34 5 5 24 47 114 −67 20
17 Turriff United 34 4 6 24 41 96 −55 18
18 Fort William (R) 34 1 4 29 34 134 −100 7 Qualification for the Highland League play-off
Source: [3][4][5]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results
Home \ Away BRE BRO BUC CLA DEV FOU FOM FOW[lower-alpha 1] FRA HUN INV KEI LOS NAI ROT STR TUR WIC
Brechin City 2–1 3–2 4–0 4–0 4–1 4–1 4–0 3–5 1–0 1–0 4–0 5–0 5–0 2–2 7–3 3–1 5–1
Brora Rangers 0–2 2–0 6–0 4–0 0–3 4–0 3–0 0–2 4–0 2–1 1–0 7–0 4–0 3–0 8–1 4–0 2–2
Buckie Thistle 1–0 5–0 4–1 5–0 4–0 3–1 9–1 2–2 3–0 3–0 10–0 5–0 4–1 2–1 5–0 2–0 1–1
Clachnacuddin 0–1 0–4 1–3 2–3 0–1 3–3 4–3 1–2 2–5 0–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 0–2 4–1 3–2 2–3
Deveronvale 1–4 0–3 0–4 0–1 0–4 1–1 10–0 0–6 3–3 3–2 2–0 6–0 4–5 0–3 3–0 0–6 3–4
Formartine United 1–0 4–4 1–5 4–2 4–1 4–1 3–0 0–2 5–1 1–3 4–0 5–2 4–1 1–1 4–0 5–0 3–2
Forres Mechanics 0–1 0–8 0–2 2–2 2–2 0–1 4–0 0–7 3–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 2–3 0–7 4–2 1–1 1–1
Fort William[lower-alpha 1] 1–5 0–8 1–4 1–2 1–2 1–1 2–3 0–4 1–1 3–10 1–2 0–2 0–4 0–1 4–2 1–1 1–3
Fraserburgh 1–0 6–2 1–3 7–0 5–0 3–0 5–0 12–0 4–0 3–0 7–0 6–1 1–0 1–2 7–0 1–1 5–0
Huntly 0–3 1–2 0–2 2–2 4–1 0–1 2–5 3–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–3 0–2 1–1 3–0 3–4
Inverurie Loco Works 2–1 2–1 1–5 5–0 3–0 3–1 2–2 2–0 0–2 2–1 5–3 5–2 3–2 1–1 5–1 2–1 4–0
Keith 0–6 1–7 0–6 0–3 2–4 1–2 1–2 3–1 0–5 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–2 0–5 5–1 3–0 2–0
Lossiemouth 0–3 0–2 0–5 0–2 2–1 2–2 0–0 3–1 1–3 1–4 2–2 2–0 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–1
Nairn County 1–3 0–3 1–4 1–1 0–2 0–1 2–2 3–3 2–3 1–2 0–1 1–3 0–1 3–2 4–0 5–3 2–2
Rothes 0–1 1–2 2–0 4–1 3–0 0–0 1–0 3–0 1–3 3–0 3–1[lower-alpha 2] 2–0 4–0 2–2 2–3 4–1 1–1
Strathspey Thistle 1–3 1–5 0–6 2–4 1–1 0–3 3–1 7–3 2–4 1–2 0–1 0–2 3–1 1–2 1–4 2–1 3–3
Turriff United 0–5 1–7 0–4 0–3 4–0 2–2 3–2 3–2 0–3 0–4 1–2 1–3 0–2 0–6 1–3 3–3 2–3
Wick Academy 1–3 1–4 0–4 2–2 2–2 1–4 2–0 3–2 2–5 2–4 0–6 3–2 2–0 0–2 1–2 1–0 1–1
Source: [5][7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. Fort William played all of their league games during the 2021–22 season away from Claggan Park, due to an unplayable pitch.[2]
  2. Match played at Grant Park, Lossiemouth.[6]

Highland League play-off

Play-offs for the final place in the 2022–23 Highland League were planned however no matches took place. As the winners of the 2021–22 Midlands Football League (Carnoustie Panmure) and the 2021–22 North Caledonian Football League (Invergordon) were ineligible for promotion, 2021–22 North Superleague winners Banks O' Dee were put forward to play-off with Fort William, who finished bottom of the Highland Football League.[8] The day before the scheduled first leg, Fort William withdrew due to player eligibility rules. As a result, Banks O' Dee were promoted and Fort William were relegated.[9]

First leg
Banks O' Deew/oFort William
Spain Park, Aberdeen

Second leg
Fort Williamw/oBanks O' Dee

References
  1. Hendry, Alan (12 April 2022). "Wick Academy aiming to 'upset the odds' against record-breaking Buckie Thistle". North of Scotland Newspapers. Scottish Provincial Press. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  2. Law, Callum (25 July 2021). "Fort William to play all games away from home with Claggan Park unplayable". The Press and Journal. Aberdeen Journals. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  3. "Highland League Table". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  4. "Highland Football League, Scotland - League Table". Highland Football League. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  5. "Summary - Football League". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  6. Goodwin, Sophie (13 April 2022). "Highland League: Rothes v Inverurie Locos to be played at Lossiemouth's Grant Park". The Press and Journal. Aberdeen Journals. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  7. "Highland Football League, Scotland - Fixtures and Results". Highland Football League. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  8. Law, Callum (6 April 2022). "Fort William vow to keep fighting ahead of Rothes clash". The Press and Journal. Aberdeen Journals. Retrieved 9 April 2022. Finishing 18th would see them take on Junior side Banks o' Dee in the relegation play-off at the end of the campaign.
  9. Law, Callum (22 April 2022). "Player eligibility led to Fort William's play-off withdrawal". The Press and Journal. Aberdeen Journals. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
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