2015–16 Scottish League One

The 2015–16 Scottish League One (referred to as the Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season in the current format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football.

Scottish League One

Season	2015–16
Champions	Dunfermline Athletic
Promoted	Dunfermline Athletic Ayr United
Relegated	Cowdenbeath Forfar Athletic
Matches played	180
Goals scored	538 (2.99 per match)
Top goalscorer	Faissal El Bakhtaoui Rory McAllister (22 goals)[1]
Best goalkeeper	Sean Murdoch (15 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Peterhead 7–0 Cowdenbeath[2] (21 November 2015)
Biggest away win	Brechin City 1–6 Dunfermline Athletic (8 August 2015)[2]
Highest scoring	Dunfermline Athletic 7–1 Cowdenbeath (15 August 2015)[2]
Longest winning run	5 matches:[2] Dunfermline Athletic Peterhead
Longest unbeaten run	19 matches:[2] Peterhead
Longest winless run	17 matches:[2] Forfar Athletic
Longest losing run	6 matches:[2] Brechin City
Highest attendance	6,236[2] Dunfermline Athletic 1–0 Peterhead (30 April 2016)
Lowest attendance	210[2] Albion Rovers 4–1 Brechin City (23 February 2016)
Total attendance	175,562[2]
Average attendance	975[2]
← 2014–15 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 7 May 2016.

Teams

Promoted from Scottish League Two

• Albion Rovers

Relegated from Scottish Championship

• Cowdenbeath

Stadia and locations

Airdrieonians	Albion Rovers	Ayr United	Brechin City
Excelsior Stadium	Cliftonhill	Somerset Park	Glebe Park
Capacity: 10,170[3]	Capacity: 1,238[4]	Capacity: 10,185[5]	Capacity: 3,960[6]
Cowdenbeath	Airdrieonians Albion Rovers Ayr United Brechin City Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic Forfar Athletic Peterhead Stenhousemuir Stranraer		Dunfermline Athletic
Central Park			East End Park
Capacity: 4,309[7]			Capacity: 11,480[8]
Forfar Athletic	Peterhead	Stenhousemuir	Stranraer
Station Park	Balmoor	Ochilview Park	Stair Park
Capacity: 6,777[9]	Capacity: 3,150[10]	Capacity: 3,746[11]	Capacity: 6,250[12]

Personnel

Team	Manager	Captain	Manufacturer	Sponsors
Airdrieonians	Danny Lennon (acting head coach)	Marc Fitzpatrick	Macron	M&H Logistics
Albion Rovers	Darren Young	Michael Dunlop	Adidas	Reigart Demolition
Ayr United	Ian McCall	Nicky Devlin	Adidas	Bodog
Brechin City	Darren Dods	Craig Molloy	Pendle	Delson
Cowdenbeath	Colin Nish	Pat Scullion	Uhlsport	Subsea Pressure Controls
Dunfermline Athletic	Allan Johnston	Callum Fordyce	Joma	SRJ Windows
Forfar Athletic	Gary Bollan	Gavin Swankie	Pendle	Orchard Timber Products
Peterhead	Jim McInally	Steven Noble	Adidas	LFH Engineering Ltd
Stenhousemuir	Brown Ferguson	Stuart Malcolm	Prostar	Gulnar Tandoori Restaurant
Stranraer	Brian Reid	Steven Bell	Stanno	Stena Line

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dunfermline Athletic	John Potter	Stepped down	30 April 2015[13]	Pre-season	Allan Johnston	8 May 2015[14]
Cowdenbeath	Jimmy Nicholl	Resigned	5 May 2015[15]		Colin Nish	2 June 2015[16]
Brechin City	Ray McKinnon	Signed by Raith Rovers	23 May 2015[17]		Darren Dods	10 June 2015[18]
Stranraer	Stephen Aitken	Signed by Dumbarton	27 May 2015[19]		Brian Reid	1 June 2015[20]
Forfar Athletic	Dick Campbell	Sacked	12 December 2015[21]	8th	Stewart Petrie (interim)	15 December 2015[22]
Airdrieonians	Gary Bollan	Signed by Forfar Athletic	20 December 2015[23]	5th	Eddie Wolecki Black	22 December 2015[24]
Forfar Athletic	Stewart Petrie (interim)	End of interim	21 December 2015[25]	8th	Gary Bollan	21 December 2015[23]
Airdrieonians	Eddie Wolecki Black	Illness	5 March 2016	4th	Danny Lennon (acting head coach)	10 March 2016

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Dunfermline Athletic (C, P)	36	24	7	5	83	30	+53	79	Promotion to Scottish Championship
2	Ayr United (O, P)	36	19	4	13	65	47	+18	61	Qualification to Championship play-offs
3	Peterhead	36	16	11	9	72	47	+25	59
4	Stranraer	36	15	6	15	43	49	−6	51
5	Airdrieonians	36	14	7	15	48	50	−2	49
6	Albion Rovers	36	13	10	13	40	44	−4	49
7	Brechin City	36	12	6	18	47	59	−12	42
8	Stenhousemuir	36	11	7	18	46	80	−34	40
9	Cowdenbeath (R)	36	11	6	19	46	72	−26	39	Qualification to League One play-offs
10	Forfar Athletic (R)	36	8	10	18	48	60	−12	34	Relegation to Scottish League Two

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

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 36 games.

First half of season Home \ Away AIR ALB AYR BRE COW DNF FOR PET STE STR Airdrieonians 1–1 1–2 1–0 3–2 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–1 0–1 Albion Rovers 1–3 3–0 3–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 0–2 Ayr United 3–0 1–0 2–1 5–0 1–2 2–2 1–1 5–2 3–1 Brechin City 1–2 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–6 0–2 1–1 1–2 2–0 Cowdenbeath 3–0 1–0 4–2 3–0 0–0 2–1 2–2 2–2 1–2 Dunfermline Athletic 1–1 3–0 0–2 3–1 7–1 4–0 0–0 1–0 3–1 Forfar Athletic 2–3 4–0 2–2 0–1 0–1 0–4 0–2 4–1 1–2 Peterhead 2–0 1–1 3–0 2–3 7–0 2–1 2–2 2–2 1–1 Stenhousemuir 2–1 0–1 0–1 2–2 4–2 0–5 2–2 4–3 1–0 Stranraer 1–3 0–1 1–2 1–0 0–3 0–3 0–0 0–4 1–2 Updated to match(es) played on 3 February 2016. Source: Scottish League 1 Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away AIR ALB AYR BRE COW DNF FOR PET STE STR Airdrieonians 1–1 0–1 0–2 2–0 3–0 1–1 3–4 1–1 1–1 Albion Rovers 1–2 1–3 4–1 0–0 0–1 3–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 Ayr United 0–3 0–1 2–1 4–1 0–2 2–1 1–2 4–1 2–1 Brechin City 3–3 2–1 1–0 2–2 1–2 4–0 5–1 1–0 1–0 Cowdenbeath 1–3 1–2 1–0 2–1 0–1 1–4 2–3 1–3 0–2 Dunfermline Athletic 0–1 1–1 3–2 3–1 2–1 2–2 1–0 5–0 6–1 Forfar Athletic 0–2 1–0 3–1 1–2 1–1 2–4 2–0 0–1 1–1 Peterhead 1–0 5–1 0–4 4–1 0–1 0–0 3–2 4–1 0–0 Stenhousemuir 3–2 1–3 0–4 0–0 2–3 0–3 2–1 1–4 1–5 Stranraer 4–0 0–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 4–1 1–0 1–5 3–1 Updated to match(es) played on 30 April 2016. Source: Scottish League 1 Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 30 April 2016^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Faissal El Bakhtaoui	Dunfermline Athletic	22
	Rory McAllister	Peterhead
3	Greig Spence	Cowdenbeath	17
4	Robert Thomson	Brechin City	15
5	Joe Cardle	Dunfermline Athletic	14
	Craig Moore	Ayr United
7	Ally Love	Albion Rovers	13
	Shane Sutherland	Peterhead

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Joe Cardle	Dunfermline Athletic	Forfar Athletic	4–0	5 September 2015	[26]
Rory McAllister	Peterhead	Stenhousemuir	3–4	31 October 2015	[27]
Leighton McIntosh	Peterhead	Cowdenbeath	7–0	21 November 2015	[28]
Joe Cardle	Dunfermline Athletic	Stranraer	6–1	27 February 2016	[29]
Rory McAllister	Peterhead	Brechin City	4–1	27 February 2016	[30]
Faissal El Bakhtaoui	Dunfermline Athletic	Brechin City	3–1	26 March 2016	[31]
Robert Thomson	Brechin City	Peterhead	5–1	16 April 2016	[32]

Discipline

Player

Yellow cards As of matches played on 30 April 2016[33] Rank Player Club Cards 1 Kyle Turnbull Albion Rovers 11 2 Dean Brett Cowdenbeath 10 Andy Geggan Dunfermline Athletic Steven Bell Stranraer 5 Darren Dods Brechin City 9 Euan Murray Stenhousemuir 7 10 players 8

Red cards As of matches played on 30 April 2016[33] Rank Player Club Cards 1 Thomas O'Brien Forfar Athletic 2 Scott Ross Peterhead Steven Noble Peterhead 4 38 players 1

Club

Yellow cards As of matches played on 30 April 2016[34] Rank Club Cards 1 Brechin City 83 2 Stenhousemuir 80 3 Cowdenbeath 76

Red cards As of matches played on 30 April 2016[34] Rank Club Cards 1 Stenhousemuir 7 2 Cowdenbeath 6 Peterhead

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Dick Campbell	Forfar Athletic	Faissal El Bakhtaoui	Dunfermline Athletic	[35]
September	Ian McCall	Ayr United	Nicky Devlin	Ayr United
October	Darren Young	Albion Rovers	Sean Murdoch	Dunfermline Athletic
November	Brown Ferguson	Stenhousemuir	Leighton McIntosh	Peterhead
December	Allan Johnston	Dunfermline Athletic	Greig Spence	Cowdenbeath
January	Jim McInally	Peterhead	Shane Sutherland	Peterhead
February	Jim McInally	Peterhead	Rory McAllister	Peterhead
March	Allan Johnston	Dunfermline Athletic	Faissal El Bakhtaoui	Dunfermline Athletic
April	Darren Dods	Brechin City	Robert Thomson	Brechin City

League One play-offs

Cowdenbeath, the second bottom team, entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd-4th placed teams in 2015–16 Scottish League Two; Elgin City, Clyde, and Queen's Park.

Semi-finals

First leg

Clyde v Elgin City

3 May 2016[36]	Clyde	3–1	Elgin City	Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld
19:45	Gemmell 19' Linton 41' McLaughlin 67'	BBC Report	MacLeod 49'	Attendance: 804 Referee: John McKendrick

Queen's Park v Cowdenbeath

4 May 2016[36]	Queen's Park	2–0	Cowdenbeath	Hampden Park, Glasgow
19:45	Duggan 1', 66' (pen.)	BBC Report		Attendance: 572 Referee: Greg Aitken

Second leg

Elgin City v Clyde

7 May 2016[36]	Elgin City	0–2 (1–5 agg.)	Clyde	Borough Briggs, Elgin
15:00		BBC Report	Kirkpatrick 62' Linton 90+5'	Attendance: 1,371 Referee: Euan Anderson

Cowdenbeath v Queen's Park

7 May 2016[36]	Cowdenbeath	1–0 (1–2 agg.)	Queen's Park	Central Park, Cowdenbeath
15:00	Spence 54'	BBC Report		Attendance: 585 Referee: Craig Charleston

Final

The winners of the semi-finals, Clyde and Queen's Park, then competed against one another over two legs, with the winner replacing Cowdenbeath and being promoted to the 2016–17 Scottish League One.

First leg

Clyde v Queen's Park

10 May 2016[37]	Clyde	1–3	Queen's Park	Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld
19:45	Gemmell 15'	BBC Report	Burns 5' (pen.) Berry 63' Galt 84'	Referee: Kevin Clancy

Second leg

Queen's Park v Clyde

14 May 2016[37]	Queen's Park	0–1 (3–2 agg.)	Clyde	Hampden Park, Glasgow
15:00		BBC Report	Linton 33' (pen.)