2020–21 Lowland Football League

The 2020–21 Scottish Lowland Football League was the 8th season of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Kelty Hearts were the reigning champions.

Lowland League

Season	2020–21
Dates	10 October 2020 – 17 April 2021
Champions	Kelty Hearts
Promoted	Kelty Hearts
Matches played	107
Goals scored	375 (3.5 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jamie Penker (University of Stirling) (11 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Caledonian Braves 9–0 Vale of Leithen (15 December 2020)
Biggest away win	Edinburgh University 0–9 East Kilbride (19 December 2020)
Highest scoring	Vale of Leithen 4–6 BSC Glasgow (17 October 2020)
Longest winning run	7 matches: Kelty Hearts
Longest unbeaten run	9 matches: East Kilbride
Longest winless run	12 matches: Vale of Leithen
Longest losing run	12 matches: Vale of Leithen
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The league consisted of 17 teams as no clubs were relegated at the end of the 2019–20 season and East of Scotland champions Bo'ness United were promoted after gaining their SFA membership in June 2020.^[2][3]

The start of the league season was delayed until October 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and games were played behind closed doors due to Scottish Government restrictions. On 11 January 2021 the league was suspended by the Scottish Football Association due to the escalating pandemic situation.^[4] On 30 March the league announced that a majority of clubs had voted to curtail the season, with a points per game basis used to finalise standings and Kelty Hearts were declared as the champions.^[5]

They faced the winners of the 2020–21 Highland Football League (Brora Rangers) in the Pyramid play-off, winning 6–1 on aggregate. Kelty then defeated Brechin City 3–1 on aggregate in the League Two play-off final to gain a place in Scottish League Two.

Teams

Berwick Rangers

Bo'ness United

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

BSC Glasgow

Caledonian Braves

Civil Service Strollers

Cumbernauld Colts

Dalbeattie Star

East Kilbride

East Stirlingshire

Edinburgh University

Gala Fairydean Rovers

Gretna 2008

Kelty Hearts

The Spartans

University of Stirling

Vale of Leithen

Location of teams in 2020–21 Scottish Lowland Football League

The following teams changed division after the 2019–20 season.

To Lowland League

Promoted from East of Scotland League

• Bo'ness United

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Seats
Berwick Rangers	Berwick-upon-Tweed	Shielfield Park	4,099	1,366
Bo'ness United	Bo'ness	Newtown Park	2,500	0
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Bonnyrigg	New Dundas Park	2,200	0
BSC Glasgow	Alloa	Recreation Park[a]	3,100	919
Caledonian Braves	Motherwell	Alliance Park	500	100
Civil Service Strollers	Edinburgh	Christie Gillies Park	1,569	100
Cumbernauld Colts	Cumbernauld	Broadwood Stadium	7,936	7,936
Dalbeattie Star	Dalbeattie	Islecroft Stadium	1,320	100
East Kilbride	East Kilbride	K Park	660	400
East Stirlingshire	Falkirk	Falkirk Stadium[b]	7,937	7,937
Edinburgh University	Edinburgh	New Peffermill Stadium	1,100	100
Gala Fairydean Rovers	Galashiels	3G Arena, Netherdale	2,000	500
Gretna 2008	Gretna	Raydale Park	1,030	138
Kelty Hearts	Kelty	New Central Park	2,181	353
The Spartans	Edinburgh	Ainslie Park	3,612	534
University of Stirling	Stirling	Forthbank Stadium[c]	3,808	2,508
Vale of Leithen	Innerleithen	Victoria Park	1,500	0

Notes

1. BSC Glasgow are ground-sharing with Alloa Athletic due to the lack of a suitable venue in Glasgow.
2. East Stirlingshire are ground-sharing with Falkirk.
3. University of Stirling are ground-sharing with Stirling Albion.

All grounds are equipped with floodlights.

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Berwick Rangers	Ian Little	Euan Smith	Kappa	Thrive Learning
Bo'ness United	Max Christie	Chris Donnelly	Puma	Express Taxis
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Robbie Horn	Jonathan Stewart	Puma	G. Fitzsimmons and Son
BSC Glasgow	Stephen Swift	Ross McMillan	Joma	Nicholson Accountancy
Caledonian Braves	Ricky Waddell	Alan Reid	Macron	Alba Cola
Civil Service Strollers	Gary Jardine	Mark McConnell	Legea	Futurity Financial Services
Cumbernauld Colts	Craig McKinlay	Stephen O'Neill	Uhlsport	Broden's Bar and Kitchen
Dalbeattie Star	Ritchie Maxwell	Lee Wells	Adidas	Solway Plant Hire
East Kilbride	Stephen Aitken	Paul Paton	Joma	Document Solutions
East Stirlingshire	Derek Ure	Nicky Low	EV2 Sportswear	EV2SPORTSWEAR.COM
Edinburgh University	Dorian Ogunro	Calum McDonald	PlayerLayer	TWEDEX
Gala Fairydean Rovers	Neil Hastings	Danny Galbraith	Adidas	Five Star Taxis
Gretna 2008	Rowan Alexander	Bryan Gilfillan	Joma	CASS
Kelty Hearts	Barry Ferguson	Michael Tidser	Joma	The Conservatory Converters
The Spartans	Douglas Samuel	Adam Corbett	Macron	Arthur McKay
Stirling University	Chris Geddes	Craig Brown	VSN	Mackay Clinic
Vale of Leithen	Chris Anderson	Ger Rossi	Adidas	BARC Travel

League summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Kelty Hearts (C, O, P)	13	12	0	1	40	4	+36	36	2.77	Qualification for the Pyramid play-off
2	East Kilbride	12	9	2	1	32	6	+26	29	2.42
3	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	12	9	2	1	29	6	+23	29	2.42
4	BSC Glasgow	13	9	3	1	38	16	+22	30	2.31
5	East Stirlingshire	12	8	2	2	30	12	+18	26	2.17
6	Gala Fairydean Rovers	12	7	1	4	22	20	+2	22	1.83
7	Bo'ness United	10	5	3	2	22	13	+9	18	1.80
8	The Spartans	12	6	0	6	27	22	+5	18	1.50
9	University of Stirling	15	7	1	7	31	25	+6	22	1.47
10	Berwick Rangers	13	5	1	7	12	16	−4	16	1.23
11	Civil Service Strollers	14	4	5	5	14	16	−2	17	1.21
12	Caledonian Braves	14	4	1	9	22	28	−6	13	0.93
13	Gretna 2008	11	3	1	7	15	25	−10	10	0.91
14	Cumbernauld Colts	14	3	2	9	17	30	−13	11	0.79
15	Dalbeattie Star	10	1	2	7	12	24	−12	5	0.50
16	Edinburgh University	15	1	2	12	7	54	−47	5	0.33
17	Vale of Leithen	12	0	0	12	5	58	−53	0	0.00

Source: SLFL BBC Sport Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Positions by round

	Qualification for the Pyramid play-off
	Possible relegation to Tier 6
	Relegation to Tier 6

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Kelty Hearts	2	7	6	5	4	2	5	5	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
BSC Glasgow	4	6	5	3	2	3	2	2	5	3	1	5	3	4	4	2	2	2
East Kilbride	5	1	1	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	4	3	5	2	2	3	3	3
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	7	7	4	3	2	2	3	3	4	4	4
East Stirlingshire	8	4	4	6	6	4	3	4	2	5	5	4	4	5	5	5	5	5
University of Stirling	13	8	7	7	7	7	8	9	8	8	8	6	6	7	6	6	6	6
Gala Fairydean Rovers	17	10	10	10	9	9	6	6	6	7	7	9	7	6	7	7	7	7
Bo'ness United	3	3	2	1	1	5	4	3	4	6	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	8
The Spartans	6	5	9	8	10	10	11	10	11	10	9	8	9	9	9	9	9	9
Civil Service Strollers	14	11	11	12	13	11	12	14	12	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Berwick Rangers	7	9	8	9	8	8	9	8	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Caledonian Braves	9	14	13	13	12	13	10	13	14	14	14	14	12	12	12	12	12	12
Cumbernauld Colts	10	13	12	11	11	12	13	11	10	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	13	13
Gretna 2008	12	16	16	16	15	16	15	12	13	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	14	14
Dalbeattie Star	11	12	14	14	14	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Edinburgh University	16	17	17	17	17	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
Vale of Leithen	15	15	15	15	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17

Updated to match(es) played on 5 January 2021. Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	BER	BNS	BON	BSC	CAL	CSS	CUM	DAL	EKB	EAS	EDU	GFR	GRE	KEL	SPA	STI	VOL
Berwick Rangers									0–1	1–3	3–1			0–4		3–2	1–0
Bo'ness United	2–1			4–4	2–0	1–1	2–1					1–2					4–0
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic					2–0	2–0	1–1		2–1		3–0		3–0				5–0
BSC Glasgow	0–0				3–2		4–0	2–1		5–1					3–1	2–1
Caledonian Braves	0–1					2–2		3–1					0–5	0–1		2–3	9–0
Civil Service Strollers	1–0			0–0							1–1		1–0	2–3		1–0
Cumbernauld Colts	0–2				0–1	1–1					3–0	1–2		0–2	2–6	1–2
Dalbeattie Star			1–3							0–4	0–0	2–3	2–2
East Kilbride		1–1			4–1	2–0						3–0	6–1		2–0
East Stirlingshire			2–1		3–0	1–0	2–3		0–0			2–2
Edinburgh University		0–4		0–6	1–2				0–9	0–2			1–0		1–6
Gala Fairydean Rovers			0–4	2–0		3–1					4–1			1–2	3–1
Gretna 2008	1–0			0–3											1–2		5–0
Kelty Hearts							5–0	2–0	0–1		4–0		7–0			2–0	4–0
The Spartans	1–0		0–2					3–1						0–4		1–3	6–0
University of Stirling		3–1	1–1					2–4	1–2	0–3	7–1	2–0					4–1
Vale of Leithen				4–6		0–3	0–4			0–7

Updated to match(es) played on 5 January 2021. Source: SLFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

As of 5 January 2021^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jamie Penker	University of Stirling	11
2	Nathan Austin	Kelty Hearts	10
3	Scott-Taylor Mackenzie	Gala Fairydean Rovers	8
	Craig Malcolm	East Kilbride
	Andy Rodgers	East Stirlingshire
6	Lee Currie	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	7
	Jamie Glasgow	BSC Glasgow
	Kallum Higginbotham	Kelty Hearts
	Zander Miller	Bo'ness United
10	Dylan Easton	Kelty Hearts	6
	Ross Lyon	BSC Glasgow
	Ross McNeil	Caledonian Braves

Lowland League play-off

A three match round robin play-off was due to take place between the winners of the 2020–21 East of Scotland Football League, the 2020–21 South of Scotland Football League, and the 2020–21 West of Scotland Football League, subject to all three clubs meeting the required licensing criteria for promotion. However all three leagues were declared null and void so there was no play-off or promotion to the Lowland League.^[6]

References

1. "Top Goalscorers". SLFL. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
2. "Linlithgow Rose boss Brown Ferguson applauds Lowland League for authorising Bo'ness United promotion". www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
3. "Day of destiny as Bo'ness Utd set for Lowland League place". www.falkirkherald.co.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
4. "Scottish FA Board confirms three-week suspension of professional football beneath SPFL Championship | Scottish FA". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
5. "Finalising season 2020/21". www.slfl.co.uk. Lowland Football League. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
6. "LOWER PYRAMID PLAY – OFF COMPETITION RULES" (PDF). Lowland Football League. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

External links

• Official website