2019–20 Highland Football League

The 2019–20 Highland Football League (known as the Breedon Highland League for sponsorship reasons) was the 117th season of the Highland Football League, and the 6th season as the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. The season began on 27 July 2019 and was scheduled to end on 18 April 2020. Cove Rangers were the reigning champions, but could not defend their title after being promoted to Scottish League Two.

Highland Football League

Season	2019–20
Dates	27 July 2019 – 11 March 2020
Champions	Brora Rangers
Matches played	213
Goals scored	834 (3.92 per match)
Biggest home win	Brora Rangers 7–0 Lossiemouth (17 August 2019) Inverurie Loco Works 8–1 Turriff United (14 December 2019) Fraserburgh 7–0 Huntly (11 March 2020)
Biggest away win	Lossiemouth 0–8 Brora Rangers (21 December 2019)
Highest scoring	Keith 2–8 Buckie Thistle (10 August 2019)
Longest winning run	15 matches: Brora Rangers
Longest unbeaten run	15 matches: Brora Rangers
Longest winless run	11 matches: Lossiemouth
Longest losing run	11 matches: Lossiemouth
← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 11 March 2020.

On 13 March 2020, the league was indefinitely suspended due to the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak^[1] and later curtailed. On 21 March, Brora Rangers were awarded the title following a vote of the league's member clubs.^[2] League positions were confirmed in August 2020 based on points per game in the curtailed season.^[3]

Teams

Brora Rangers

Buckie Thistle

Clachnacuddin

Deveronvale

Formartine United

Forres Mechanics

Fort William

Fraserburgh

Huntly

Inverurie Loco Works

Keith

Lossiemouth

Nairn County

Rothes

Strathspey Thistle

Turriff United

Wick Academy

Location of teams in 2019–20 Highland Football League

The following teams changed division after the 2018–19 season.

From Highland League

Promoted to League Two

• Cove Rangers

Following Cove's promotion, the league decided in May 2019 to play the 2019–20 season with 17 teams, rather than invite a new member to replace Cove.^[4][5]

Stadia and locations

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

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Seats
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	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	PPG
1	Brora Rangers (C)	26	24	0	2	96	14	+82	72	2.77
2	Fraserburgh	23	17	4	2	79	23	+56	55	2.39
3	Rothes	23	17	2	4	53	22	+31	53	2.30
4	Buckie Thistle	24	17	2	5	64	35	+29	53	2.21
5	Inverurie Loco Works	28	19	2	7	80	40	+40	59	2.11
6	Formartine United	23	14	2	7	62	21	+41	44	1.91
7	Nairn County	22	12	3	7	39	41	−2	39	1.77
8	Forres Mechanics	27	13	4	10	67	49	+18	43	1.59
9	Wick Academy	25	9	5	11	38	47	−9	32	1.28
10	Keith	27	10	4	13	50	65	−15	34	1.26
11	Deveronvale	27	9	4	14	42	56	−14	31	1.15
12	Huntly	27	6	6	15	35	73	−38	24	0.89
13	Strathspey Thistle	22	6	1	15	29	54	−25	19	0.86
14	Turriff United	27	5	3	19	33	83	−50	18	0.67
15	Clachnacuddin	27	4	4	19	27	63	−36	16	0.59
16	Fort William	20	3	1	16	18	61	−43	10	0.50
17	Lossiemouth	28	4	1	23	22	87	−65	13	0.46

Source: Highland Football League BBC Sport Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	BRO	BUC	CLA	DEV	FOU	FOM	FOW	FRA	HUN	INV	KEI	LOS	NAI	ROT	STR	TUR	WIC
Brora Rangers		7–0	N/A	4–2	N/A	1–0	6–0	0–1	6–0	4–0	3–1	7–0	5–0	2–1	N/A	3–0	4–1
Buckie Thistle	N/A		2–1	5–2	1–0	3–1	4–0	1–3	4–2	0–0	N/A	3–1	2–1	N/A	2–1	4–1	4–0
Clachnacuddin	1–2	0–2		1–4	0–3	2–3	0–1[lower-alpha 1]	N/A	0–0	N/A	3–4	2–0	N/A	N/A	2–1	2–2	1–2
Deveronvale	0–2	0–1	1–1		3–0	1–3	2–2	0–3	4–0	1–2	0–2	N/A	0–2	1–2	3–2	1–0	1–1
Formartine United	N/A	2–1	5–1	4–1		3–0	5–2	1–2	5–0	1–2	1–2	4–1	N/A	N/A	N/A	5–0	1–2
Forres Mechanics	1–3	2–2	3–0	1–2	N/A		6–0	N/A	6–1	0–4	4–0	5–4	N/A	1–1	7–1	N/A	2–2
Fort William	N/A	N/A	1–0	N/A	N/A	1–2[lower-alpha 2]		N/A	N/A	1–4	0–1	0–2[lower-alpha 3]	N/A	N/A	0–1	3–5	1–4
Fraserburgh	1–2	3–2	6–0	N/A	1–1	3–3	6–3		7–0	2–3	4–0	6–0	3–1	N/A	N/A	4–0	5–0
Huntly	0–4	4–3	3–0	2–3	0–0	1–4	N/A	2–2		2–4	2–2	2–1	3–4	1–3	N/A	3–1	3–2
Inverurie Loco Works	1–6	1–3	4–1	3–1	N/A	3–1	N/A	1–4	1–1		4–0	7–1	5–1	5–0	4–1	8–1	0–1
Keith	2–3	2–8	1–3	N/A	0–5	4–1	4–0	N/A	0–1	1–3		N/A	1–1	2–3	7–1	2–1	2–2
Lossiemouth	0–8	0–5	3–4	0–2	N/A	0–4	2–0	0–3	1–0	0–2	2–3		0–0	0–3	0–2	3–0	0–2
Nairn County	1–0	N/A	2–1	7–2	0–6	0–3	N/A	2–2	3–1	3–2	2–1	N/A		0–2	4–1	N/A	1–0
Rothes	0–1	N/A	3–0	4–0	2–0	4–1	N/A	N/A	2–0	2–0	4–0	3–0	1–2		3–2	3–0	3–1
Strathspey Thistle	1–5	N/A	2–0	N/A	N/A	2–1	2–0	N/A	1–1	0–1	1–3	3–0	0–2	1–2		2–4	N/A
Turriff United	0–7	N/A	2–0	0–3	0–1	1–4	1–2	1–6	N/A	1–6	3–3	2–0	N/A	2–2	3–1		2–3
Wick Academy	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	0–5	0–2	4–1	0–2	N/A	N/A	N/A	5–1	N/A	N/A	N/A	2–0

Source: Highland Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Notes

1. Match played at Canal Park, Inverness.
2. Match played at Mosset Park, Forres.
3. Match played at Grant Park, Lossiemouth.

References

1. "Coronavirus – Joint Response Group Update 13 March". Scottish FA. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
2. "Scottish Highland Football League - Update". Highland Football League. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
3. Christie, Craig. "Highland League to begin shortened season on October 17". John O'Groat Journal. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
4. Edwards, Dave (28 May 2019). "Highland League opts to go with 17 teams following Cove Rangers' promotion". Press & Journal. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
5. Couse, Stephen (28 May 2019). "Highland League to proceed with odd number of teams after Cove Rangers promotion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 May 2019.

External links

• Official website