2023–24_Scottish_League_Two

2023–24 Scottish League Two

Football league season

The 2023–24 Scottish League Two (known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons) is the eleventh season of Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of Scottish football. The season began on 5 August 2023.^[1]

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

Scottish League Two
Season	2023–24
Dates	5 August 2023 – 4 May 2024
Champions	Stenhousemuir
Promoted	Stenhousemuir
Matches played	180
Goals scored	467 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Blair Henderson 18 goals
Biggest home win	Peterhead 6–0 Elgin City (30 September 2023)
Biggest away win	Stenhousemuir 1–6 Clyde (24 February 2024)
Highest scoring	Dumbarton 4–4 Clyde (23 December 2023) The Spartans 2–6 Dumbarton (16 March 2024)
Longest winning run	Stenhousemuir 12 games
Longest unbeaten run	Stenhousemuir 17 games
Longest winless run	Bonnyrigg Rose Clyde 10 games
Longest losing run	Stranraer 5 games
Highest attendance	1,512 Stenhousemuir 1–1 Bonnyrigg Rose (27 April 2024)
Lowest attendance	273 Stranraer 1–2 Elgin City (16 March 2024)
Total attendance	105,586
Average attendance	586
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 4 May 2024.

Ten teams contest the league: Bonnyrigg Rose, Clyde, Dumbarton, East Fife, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Peterhead, Stenhousemuir, Stranraer and The Spartans.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2022–23 season.

To League Two

Promoted from Lowland Football League

The Spartans

Relegated from League One

Clyde
Peterhead

From League Two

Relegated to Lowland Football League

Albion Rovers

Promoted to League One

Annan Athletic
Stirling Albion^[2]

Stadia and locations

More information Bonnyrigg Rose, Clyde ...

Bonnyrigg Rose	Clyde	Dumbarton	East Fife
New Dundas Park	New Douglas Park^[3]	Dumbarton Football Stadium	Bayview Stadium
Capacity: 3,000^[4]	Capacity: 6,018^[5]	Capacity: 2,020^[6]	Capacity: 1,980^[7]

Elgin City	Bonnyrigg Rose Clyde Dumbarton East Fife Elgin City Forfar Athletic Peterhead Stenhousemuir Stranraer Spartans Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League Two		Forfar Athletic
Borough Briggs			Station Park
Capacity: 4,520^[8]			Capacity: 6,777^[9]

Peterhead	Stenhousemuir	Stranraer	The Spartans
Balmoor	Ochilview Park	Stair Park	Ainslie Park
Capacity: 3,150^[10]	Capacity: 3,746^[11]	Capacity: 4,178^[12]	Capacity: 3,612

Personnel and kits

More information Team, Manager ...

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bonnyrigg Rose	Calum Elliot	Jonathan Stewart	Puma	G. Fitzsimmons and Son (Home) Shepherd Chartered Surveyors (Away)
Clyde	Ian McCall	Barry Cuddihy	Puma	HomesBook Factoring (Home) Whitemoss Dental (Away)
Dumbarton	Stephen Farrell	Mark Durnan	Macron	Ice & Fire Wellness
East Fife	Dick Campbell	Stewart Murdoch	Erreà	BW Technology (Home) The Taxi Centre Fife (Away)
Elgin City	Allan Hale	Matthew Cooper	Joma	McDonald & Munro
Forfar Athletic	Ray McKinnon	Stuart Morrison	Pendle	Orchard Timber Products
Peterhead	Jordon Brown Ryan Strachan	Jason Brown	Puma	The Score Group
Stenhousemuir	Gary Naysmith	Gregor Buchanan	Uhlsport	LOC Hire
Stranraer	Scott Agnew	Grant Gallagher	Joma	Stena Line
The Spartans	Douglas Samuel	Kevin Waugh	Macron	J-TEQ EMS Solutions Ltd

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Clyde	Jim Duffy	Appointed director of football	24 May 2023	Pre-season	Brian McLean	2 June 2023
Elgin City	Charlie Charlesworth, Ross Draper and Stevie Dunn	End of interim spell	25 May 2023	Pre-season	Ross Draper	25 May 2023
Elgin City	Ross Draper	Resigned	5 September 2023	9th	Barry Smith	5 September 2023
Clyde	Brian McLean	Sacked	22 October 2023		Ian McCall	15 November 2023
Elgin City	Barry Smith	Mutual consent	13 November 2023		Allan Hale	5 December 2023
East Fife	Greig McDonald	Resigned	5 February 2024	6th	Dick Campbell	6 February 2024
Bonnyrigg Rose	Robbie Horn	Sacked	24 March 2024	8th	Calum Elliot	25 March 2024

League table

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Stenhousemuir (C, P)	36	18	14	4	50	31	+19	68	Promotion to League One
2	Peterhead	36	16	12	8	58	39	+19	60	Qualification for the League One play-offs
3	The Spartans (Q)	36	15	13	8	53	43	+10	58
4	Dumbarton (Q)	36	16	9	11	56	44	+12	57
5	East Fife	36	11	11	14	46	47	−1	44
6	Forfar Athletic	36	9	15	12	38	45	−7	42
7	Elgin City	36	10	10	16	35	59	−24	40
8	Bonnyrigg Rose	36	9	12	15	47	48	−1	39
9	Clyde	36	9	11	16	46	58	−12	38
10	Stranraer (Q)	36	9	9	18	38	53	−15	36	Qualification for the League Two play-off final

Source: ^[13]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-to head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only for deciding promotion, play-off participation and relegation).^[14]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated

Results

Teams play each other four times, twice in the first half of the season (home and away) and twice in the second half of the season (home and away), making a total of 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season (Matches 1–18)

More information Home \ Away, BON ...

Home \ Away	BON	CLY	DUM	EFI	ELG	FOR	PET	STE	STR	SPA
Bonnyrigg Rose	—	3–2	1–1	4–2	5–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–2
Clyde	0–2	—	0–4	0–3	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	2–2	1–2
Dumbarton	4–0	4–4	—	1–0	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	3–1	1–1
East Fife	0–3	2–0	0–1	—	4–0	1–1	0–3	0–2	4–0	0–3
Elgin City	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	—	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–4
Forfar Athletic	1–2	1–1	2–4	0–0	0–0	—	1–3	1–3	1–1	2–2
Peterhead	2–1	2–1	3–1	2–0	6–0	1–2	—	0–0	3–2	0–1
Stenhousemuir	1–0	2–2	2–4	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	—	5–0	3–2
Stranraer	3–1	1–0	5–0	1–1	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–3	—	3–4
The Spartans	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	3–0	—

Source: ^[15]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

More information Home \ Away, BON ...

Home \ Away	BON	CLY	DUM	EFI	ELG	FOR	PET	STE	STR	SPA
Bonnyrigg Rose	—	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	4–0	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–1
Clyde	3–2	—	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–0
Dumbarton	2–0	1–0	—	1–2	2–2	2–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–0
East Fife	1–4	1–1	3–2	—	2–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–2
Elgin City	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–0	—	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–2
Forfar Athletic	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	2–1	—	3–3	1–1	2–0	1–0
Peterhead	0–0	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	—	2–1	2–0	0–1
Stenhousemuir	1–1	1–6	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	—	1–0	0–0
Stranraer	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	—	1–2
The Spartans	2–1	1–1	2–6	1–3	1–2	1–0	2–2	0–2	0–0	—

Source: ^[15]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Blair Henderson	The Spartans	18
2	Matthew Aitken	Stenhousemuir	14
3	Neil Martyniuk	Bonnyrigg Rose	13
3	Nathan Austin	East Fife	13
5	Martin Rennie	Clyde	12

Awards

More information Month, Manager of the Month ...

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Douglas Samuel	The Spartans	Jamie Dishington	The Spartans
September	Gary Naysmith	Stenhousemuir	Gregor Buchanan	Stenhousemuir
October	Douglas Samuel	The Spartans	Bradley Whyte	The Spartans
November	Gary Naysmith	Stenhousemuir	Matthew Aitken	Stenhousemuir
December			Matthew Aitken	Stenhousemuir
January			Blair Henderson	The Spartans
February	Ray McKinnon	Forfar Athletic	Martin Rennie	Clyde
March	Dick Campbell	East Fife	Alan Trouten	East Fife
April	Stephen Farrell	Dumbarton	Bradley Barrett	Bonnyrigg Rose

League Two play-offs

The Pyramid play-off was due to be contested between the champions of the 2023–24 Highland Football League and the 2023–24 Lowland Football League. East Kilbride secured their place in the play-offs as the Lowland Football League representative on 12 April 2024. Buckie Thistle won the Highland League on 20 April 2024. However, on 25 April 2024 the SFA confirmed that Buckie Thistle had not received the necessary Bronze licence to be able to compete in the SPFL,^[16] therefore the Pyramid play-off was cancelled and East Kilbride were automatically advanced to the League Two play-off final, being promoted to League Two for the 2024–25 season if they win.

If Stranraer loses the play-off, they will be relegated to the Lowland League for the following season.

Pyramid play-off

First leg

East Kilbride v Buckie Thistle

27 April 2024	East Kilbride	Walkover	Buckie Thistle	East Kilbride
15:00				Stadium: K-Park Training Academy

Second leg

Buckie Thistle v East Kilbride

4 May 2024	Buckie Thistle	Walkover	East Kilbride	Buckie
15:00				Stadium: Victoria Park

Final

First leg

East Kilbride v Stranraer

11 May 2024	East Kilbride	2–2	Stranraer	East Kilbride
15:00	Stirling 32' Robertson 71'	^[17]	McIntosh 45+2' Ross 60'	Stadium: K-Park Training Academy Referee: Dan McFarlane

Second leg

Stranraer v East Kilbride

18 May 2024	Stranraer	v	East Kilbride	Stranraer
15:00				Stadium: Stair Park

References

[1]
"Key dates for Season 2023/24". SPFL. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
[2]
Lindsay, Clive (22 April 2023). "Scottish League 2: Stirling Albion aim to avoid Yo-Yo return after title win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
[3]
"Club Statement". Clyde FC. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
[4]
"Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
[5]
"Clyde Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[6]
"Dumbarton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[7]
"East Fife Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[8]
"Elgin City Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[9]
"Forfar Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[10]
"Peterhead Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[11]
"Stenhousemuir Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[12]
"Stranraer Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
[13]
"cinch League Two Table". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
[14]
"The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League" (PDF). SPFL. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
[15]
"cinch League Two Results". SPFL. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
[16]
"Scottish FA Statement: Pyramid Play-Off Tie". SFA. 25 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
[17]
McGilvray, Andy (11 May 2024). "East Kilbride 2, Stranraer 2: Robbo magic levels the tie for Kilby". Daily Record. Reach plc. Retrieved 11 May 2024.

External links

Official website

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