2021–22 Scottish League One

The 2021–22 Scottish League One (known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football. The season began on 31 July.

Scottish League One

Season	2021–22
Dates	31 July 2021 – 30 April 2022
Champions	Cove Rangers
Promoted	Cove Rangers Queen's Park
Relegated	Dumbarton East Fife
Matches played	180
Goals scored	507 (2.82 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mitch Megginson 18 goals
Biggest home win	Queen's Park 6–0 Falkirk (4 December 2021)
Biggest away win	Clyde 0–5 Montrose (16 October 2021) Clyde 0–5 Airdrieonians (23 April 2022)
Highest scoring	Falkirk 6–2 Dumbarton (8 January 2022)
Longest winning run	Cove Rangers 9 games
Longest unbeaten run	Cove Rangers 26 games
Longest winless run	East Fife 12 games
Longest losing run	East Fife 7 games
Highest attendance	4,104 Falkirk 3–1 East Fife (26 February 2022)
Lowest attendance	193 Montrose 2–1 Airdrieonians (7 December 2021)
← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 30 April 2022.

Ten teams contested the league: Airdrieonians, Alloa Athletic, Clyde, Cove Rangers, Dumbarton, East Fife, Falkirk, Montrose, Peterhead and Queen's Park.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2020–21 season.

To League One

Promoted from League Two

• Queen's Park

Relegated from the Championship

• Alloa Athletic

From League One

Relegated to League Two

• Forfar Athletic

Promoted to the Championship

• Partick Thistle

Stadia and locations

Airdrieonians	Alloa Athletic	Clyde	Cove Rangers
Excelsior Stadium	Recreation Park	Broadwood Stadium	Balmoral Stadium
Capacity: 10,101[1]	Capacity: 3,100[2]	Capacity: 8,086[3]	Capacity: 2,602[4]
Dumbarton	Airdrie Alloa Athletic Clyde Cove Rangers Dumbarton East Fife Falkirk Montrose Peterhead Queen's Park Location of teams in 2021–22 Scottish League One		East Fife
Dumbarton Football Stadium			Bayview Stadium
Capacity: 2,020[5]			Capacity: 1,980[6]
Falkirk	Montrose	Peterhead	Queen's Park
Falkirk Stadium	Links Park	Balmoor	Firhill Stadium[7]
Capacity: 7,937[8]	Capacity: 4,936[9]	Capacity: 3,150[10]	Capacity: 10,102[11]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Airdrieonians	Ian Murray	Callum Fordyce	Umbro	Holemasters[12]
Alloa Athletic	Brian Rice	Andy Graham[13]	Pendle	Northern Gas and Power
Clyde	Danny Lennon	Ally Love	Puma	HomesBook Factoring (Home) Whitemoss Dental (Away)
Cove Rangers	Paul Hartley	Mitch Megginson	Adidas	ACE Group
Dumbarton	Stephen Farrell	Stuart Carswell	Joma[14]	Moreroom Extensions Ltd (Home) Four Architects (Away)
East Fife	Stevie Crawford	Kevin Smith	Joma	BW Technology
Falkirk	Kenny Miller (interim)	Paul Watson	Puma[15]	Clarke ePOS (UK) Ltd
Montrose	Stewart Petrie	Paul Watson	Hummel	Carnegie Fuels Ltd
Peterhead	Jim McInally	Scott Brown	Adidas	The Score Group
Queen's Park	Marijn Beuker (interim)	Michael Doyle	Admiral	Irn-Bru

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Alloa Athletic	Peter Grant	Sacked	1 May 2021	Pre-season	Barry Ferguson	27 May 2021
Falkirk	Gary Holt	End of interim spell	6 May 2021		Paul Sheerin	28 May 2021
Queen's Park	Ray McKinnon	Mutual consent	10 May 2021		Laurie Ellis	22 May 2021
Dumbarton	Jim Duffy	End of contract	24 May 2021		Stephen Farrell	29 May 2021
East Fife	Darren Young	Sacked	21 November 2021	10th	Stevie Crawford	30 November 2021
Falkirk	Paul Sheerin		5 December 2021	5th	Martin Rennie	10 December 2021
Queen's Park	Laurie Ellis		31 December 2021	4th	Marijn Beuker (interim)	31 December 2021
Alloa Athletic	Barry Ferguson	Resigned	14 February 2022	8th	Brian Rice	21 February 2022
Falkirk	Martin Rennie	Left	14 April 2022	5th	Kenny Miller (interim)	14 April 2022

League summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Cove Rangers (C, P)	36	23	10	3	73	32	+41	79	Promotion to the Championship
2	Airdrieonians	36	21	9	6	68	37	+31	72	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
3	Montrose	36	15	14	7	53	36	+17	59
4	Queen's Park (O, P)	36	11	18	7	51	36	+15	51
5	Alloa Athletic	36	12	9	15	49	57	−8	45
6	Falkirk	36	12	8	16	49	55	−6	44
7	Peterhead	36	11	9	16	46	51	−5	42
8	Clyde	36	9	12	15	39	62	−23	39
9	Dumbarton (R)	36	9	7	20	48	71	−23	34	Qualification for the League One play-offs
10	East Fife (R)	36	5	8	23	31	70	−39	23	Relegation to League Two

Source: ^[16]
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).^[17]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Matches 1–18 Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. Home \ Away AIR ALO CLY COV DUM EFI FAL MON PET QPA Airdrieonians — 2–1 2–1 0–2 3–2 3–0 1–2 0–3 3–1 1–0 Alloa Athletic 2–1 — 0–1 1–3 1–2 3–1 2–0 2–2 2–4 1–1 Clyde 2–2 2–1 — 2–1 0–3 3–1 1–3 0–5 2–2 2–2 Cove Rangers 1–0 3–0 3–0 — 2–0 5–2 1–1 1–1 3–0 3–3 Dumbarton 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–3 — 5–0 0–3 1–3 2–3 0–3 East Fife 0–1 1–1 0–2 4–2 2–1 — 0–2 0–2 3–0 1–1 Falkirk 0–3 1–1 3–0 0–3 1–2 2–1 — 0–1 2–1 0–1 Montrose 2–1 0–2 2–2 0–0 1–2 4–1 2–2 — 1–0 1–1 Peterhead 2–3 2–0 3–2 0–1 5–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 — 2–1 Queen's Park 0–0 3–4 0–0 2–0 3–0 1–1 6–0 1–1 3–2 — Source: [18] 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.

Matches 19–36 Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. Home \ Away AIR ALO CLY COV DUM EFI FAL MON PET QPA Airdrieonians — 3–1 1–1 1–1 3–2 3–0 3–2 4–1 1–1 2–0 Alloa Athletic 0–2 — 1–0 2–2 2–3 1–3 0–3 4–1 1–0 1–1 Clyde 0–5 2–1 — 0–1 1–3 2–0 1–1 2–1 0–3 1–1 Cove Rangers 1–1 3–0 4–1 — 1–0 4–2 2–0 1–0 5–2 0–0 Dumbarton 0–1 1–2 2–1 2–2 — 2–0 0–2 0–0 1–1 0–3 East Fife 0–2 0–3 0–0 2–3 2–0 — 1–3 0–2 0–0 1–1 Falkirk 1–4 1–2 1–2 0–2 6–2 3–1 — 0–3 1–1 1–1 Montrose 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–0 2–1 — 2–0 2–1 Peterhead 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 4–3 1–0 1–0 0–1 — 2–1 Queen's Park 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–1 — Source: [18] 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

As of 30 April 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mitch Megginson	Cove Rangers	18
2	Rory McAllister	Cove Rangers	16
3	Calum Gallagher	Airdrieonians	15
	David Goodwillie	Clyde
	Graham Webster	Montrose

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Laurie Ellis	Queen's Park	Simon Murray	Queen's Park
September	Stephen Farrell	Dumbarton	Callum Wilson	Dumbarton
October	Stewart Petrie	Montrose	Rory McAllister	Cove Rangers
November	Paul Hartley	Cove Rangers	Mitch Megginson	Cove Rangers
December	Paul Hartley	Cove Rangers	Blair Yule	Cove Rangers
January	Ian Murray	Airdrieonians	Dylan Easton	Airdrieonians
February	Ian Murray	Airdrieonians	Rhys McCabe	Airdrieonians
March	Paul Hartley	Cove Rangers	Callum Smith	Airdrieonians
April	Paul Hartley	Cove Rangers	Calum Gallagher	Airdrieonians

League One play-offs

The semi-finals were contested by the teams placed second to fourth in Scottish League Two, as well as the team placed ninth in Scottish League One. The winners advanced to the final, with the highest-ranked team hosting the second leg.^[19]

Bracket

	Semifinals							Final
	1	Dumbarton	1	1	2
	4	Edinburgh City	4	1	5
								Annan Athletic		0	2	2
								Edinburgh City		2	1	3
	3	Forfar Athletic	0	1	1
	2	Annan Athletic	1	1	2

Semi-finals

First leg

Edinburgh City v Dumbarton

3 May 2022	Edinburgh City	4–1	Dumbarton	Edinburgh
19:45	See 11', 71' Buchanan 27' (o.g.) Robertson 90'	[20]	MacLean 61'	Stadium: Ainslie Park[21] Attendance: 630 Referee: Chris Graham

Annan Athletic v Forfar Athletic

3 May 2022	Annan Athletic	1–0	Forfar Athletic	Annan
19:45	Garrity 31'	[22]		Stadium: Galabank Attendance: 608 Referee: Lloyd Wilson

Second leg

Dumbarton v Edinburgh City

7 May 2022	Dumbarton	1–1 (2–5 agg.)	Edinburgh City	Dumbarton
15:00	Syvertsen 59'	[23]	Shanley 64'	Stadium: Dumbarton Football Stadium Attendance: 637 Referee: Gavin Duncan

Forfar Athletic v Annan Athletic

7 May 2022	Forfar Athletic	1–1 (1–2 agg.)	Annan Athletic	Forfar
15:00	McCluskey 32'	[24]	Wallace 88' (pen.)	Stadium: Station Park Attendance: 886 Referee: Steven Kirkland

Final

First leg

Edinburgh City v Annan Athletic

10 May 2022	Edinburgh City	2–0	Annan Athletic	Edinburgh
19:30	Murray 50' Shanley 62'	[25]		Stadium: Ainslie Park[26] Attendance: 1,008 Referee: Colin Steven

Second leg

Annan Athletic v Edinburgh City

13 May 2022	Annan Athletic	2–1 (2–3 agg.)	Edinburgh City	Annan
19:30	Wallace 6' (pen.) Goss 20'	[27]	Murray 53'	Stadium: Galabank Attendance: 1,152 Referee: Euan Anderson