2021–22 Scottish League Two

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

Scottish League Two

Season	2021–22
Dates	31 July 2021 – 30 April 2022
Champions	Kelty Hearts
Promoted	Kelty Hearts (as champions) Edinburgh City (via play-offs)
Relegated	Cowdenbeath
Matches played	180
Goals scored	468 (2.6 per match)
Top goalscorer	Nathan Austin 17 goals
Biggest home win	Kelty Hearts 6–1 Albion Rovers (11 December 2021) Stirling Albion 5–0 Edinburgh City (30 April 2022)
Biggest away win	Albion Rovers 0–5 Stranraer (9 April 2022)
Highest scoring	Kelty Hearts 6–1 Albion Rovers (11 December 2021) Forfar Athletic 3–4 Stenhousemuir (26 December 2021)
Longest winning run	Kelty Hearts 5 games
Longest unbeaten run	Kelty Hearts 16 games
Longest winless run	Cowdenbeath 12 games
Longest losing run	Stirling Albion 7 games
Highest attendance	1,202 Kelty Hearts 2–0 Cowdenbeath (31 July 2021)
Lowest attendance	151 Albion Rovers 1–4 Annan Athletic (2 March 2022)
← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 30 April 2022.

Ten teams contested the league: Albion Rovers, Annan Athletic, Cowdenbeath, Edinburgh City, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Kelty Hearts, Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion and Stranraer.

Teams

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

To League Two Promoted from Lowland Football League Kelty Hearts Relegated from League One Forfar Athletic

From League Two Relegated to Highland Football League Brechin City Promoted to League One Queen's Park

Stadia and locations

Albion Rovers	Annan Athletic	Cowdenbeath	Edinburgh City
Cliftonhill	Galabank	Central Park	Ainslie Park[1][2]
Capacity: 1,238[3]	Capacity: 2,504[4]	Capacity: 4,309[5]	Capacity: 3,534
Elgin City	Albion Rovers Annan Athletic Cowdenbeath Edinburgh City Elgin City Forfar Athletic Kelty Hearts Stenhousemuir Stirling Stranraer Location of teams in 2021–22 Scottish League Two		Forfar Athletic
Borough Briggs			Station Park
Capacity: 4,520[6]			Capacity: 6,777[7]
Kelty Hearts	Stenhousemuir	Stirling Albion	Stranraer
New Central Park	Ochilview Park	Forthbank Stadium	Stair Park
Capacity: 2,181	Capacity: 3,746[8]	Capacity: 3,808[9]	Capacity: 4,178[10]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Albion Rovers	Brian Reid	Aron Lynas	Joma	CompliancePath
Annan Athletic	Peter Murphy	Steven Swinglehurst	EV2 Sportswear	M & S Engineering
Cowdenbeath	Maurice Ross	Craig Barr	Erreà	Collier Haulage, Quarrying and Recycling
Edinburgh City	Alan Maybury (interim)	Robbie McIntyre	Macron	Forth Capital
Elgin City	Gavin Price	Euan Spark	Joma	McDonald & Munro
Forfar Athletic	Gary Irvine	Ross Meechan	Pendle	Orchard Timber Products
Kelty Hearts	Kevin Thomson	Michael Tidser	Joma	The Conservatory Converters
Stenhousemuir	Stephen Swift	Sean Crighton	Puma	LOC Hire
Stirling Albion	Darren Young	Ross McGeachie	Macron	Prudential
Stranraer	Jamie Hamill	Grant Gallagher	Joma[11]	Stena Line[12]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Kelty Hearts	Barry Ferguson	Resigned	24 May 2021	Pre-season	Kevin Thomson	28 May 2021
Stranraer	Stephen Farrell	Signed by Dumbarton	29 May 2021		Jamie Hamill	4 June 2021
Cowdenbeath	Gary Bollan	Mutual consent	23 October 2021	10th	Maurice Ross	2 November 2021
Stirling Albion	Kevin Rutkiewicz	Resigned	9 December 2021	4th	Darren Young	20 December 2021
Edinburgh City	Gary Naysmith	Sacked	17 March 2022	4th	Alan Maybury (interim)	24 March 2022

League summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Kelty Hearts (C, P)	36	24	9	3	68	28	+40	81	Promotion to League One
2	Forfar Athletic	36	16	12	8	57	36	+21	60	Qualification for the League One play-offs
3	Annan Athletic	36	18	5	13	64	51	+13	59
4	Edinburgh City (O, P)	36	14	10	12	43	49	−6	52
5	Stenhousemuir	36	13	10	13	47	46	+1	49
6	Stranraer	36	13	8	15	50	54	−4	47
7	Stirling Albion	36	11	9	16	41	46	−5	42
8	Albion Rovers	36	10	9	17	37	58	−21	39
9	Elgin City	36	9	10	17	33	51	−18	37
10	Cowdenbeath (R)	36	7	8	21	28	49	−21	29	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; (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 ALB ANN COW EDI ELG FOR KEL STE STI STR Albion Rovers — 0–1 2–1 2–0 2–0 2–3 0–3 2–2 1–0 3–2 Annan Athletic 1–1 — 1–0 1–3 4–1 0–2 5–1 1–2 3–1 2–2 Cowdenbeath 0–0 1–3 — 1–2 3–1 1–1 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–2 Edinburgh City 0–4 0–1 1–1 — 2–0 0–4 2–3 1–0 2–2 3–1 Elgin City 3–0 0–2 1–0 1–1 — 1–1 2–0 2–2 0–2 1–1 Forfar Athletic 3–1 2–0 3–0 2–0 2–1 — 2–2 3–4 2–0 1–1 Kelty Hearts 6–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 — 2–0 1–1 1–0 Stenhousemuir 3–1 2–0 1–1 2–2 1–2 1–1 1–4 — 0–1 1–4 Stirling Albion 2–1 2–3 4–0 1–2 0–1 1–0 1–3 1–3 — 1–1 Stranraer 1–0 0–3 2–0 0–1 1–0 2–3 0–4 2–0 0–3 — 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.

Matches 19–36 Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. Home \ Away ALB ANN COW EDI ELG FOR KEL STE STI STR Albion Rovers — 1–4 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–1 0–5 Annan Athletic 2–4 — 2–3 2–1 2–1 2–2 1–2 0–2 0–0 4–1 Cowdenbeath 0–1 1–3 — 0–0 2–0 1–2 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 Edinburgh City 1–2 2–1 1–0 — 2–2 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–2 Elgin City 1–1 0–2 1–4 2–0 — 1–0 0–0 0–2 3–1 1–2 Forfar Athletic 2–0 5–1 1–1 2–3 0–0 — 1–0 0–0 0–1 3–2 Kelty Hearts 3–1 3–1 1–0 2–2 4–0 1–1 — 1–0 1–1 3–2 Stenhousemuir 4–1 0–1 0–2 0–0 2–1 2–0 0–1 — 1–2 1–3 Stirling Albion 0–1 0–3 2–1 5–0 0–2 1–1 0–3 0–1 — 1–0 Stranraer 0–0 1–1 3–0 0–2 2–0 0–2 0–3 1–1 3–3 — 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

As of 30 April 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Nathan Austin	Kelty Hearts	17
2	Tony Wallace	Annan Athletic	13
	Kane Hester	Elgin City
	Thomas Orr	Stenhousemuir
5	Tommy Goss	Annan Athletic	12
	Joe Cardle	Kelty Hearts

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Kevin Thomson	Kelty Hearts	Joe Cardle	Kelty Hearts
September	Kevin Rutkiewicz	Stirling Albion	Nathan Austin	Kelty Hearts
October	Gary Irvine	Forfar Athletic	Craig Thomson	Forfar Athletic
November	Kevin Thomson	Kelty Hearts	John Robertson	Edinburgh City
December	Peter Murphy	Annan Athletic	Dominic Docherty	Annan Athletic
January	Gavin Price	Elgin City	Tam Orr	Stenhousemuir
February	Stephen Swift	Stenhousemuir	Nicky Jamieson	Stenhousemuir
March	Kevin Thomson	Kelty Hearts	Tommy Goss	Annan Athletic
April	Gary Irvine	Forfar Athletic	Kallum Higginbotham	Kelty Hearts

League Two play-offs

The Pyramid play-off was contested between the champions of the 2021–22 Highland Football League (Fraserburgh) and the 2021–22 Lowland Football League (Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic). The winners (Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic) then faced the bottom club in League Two (Cowdenbeath) in the play-off final. As Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic won the final, they were promoted to League Two for the 2022–23 season and Cowdenbeath were relegated to the Lowland League.

Pyramid play-off

First leg

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic v Fraserburgh

23 April 2022	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	3–1	Fraserburgh	Bonnyrigg
15:00	McGachie 38' Connolly 54' Currie 82'	[16]	Young 70'	Stadium: New Dundas Park Attendance: 1,571 Referee: Alan Newlands

Second leg

Fraserburgh v Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

30 April 2022	Fraserburgh	1–0 (2–3 agg.)	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Fraserburgh
15:00	Simpson 65'	[17]		Stadium: Bellslea Park Referee: Mike Roncone

Final

First leg

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic v Cowdenbeath

7 May 2022	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	3–0	Cowdenbeath	Bonnyrigg
15:00	S. Brown 40' Martyniuk 44' (pen.) Brett 74'	[18]		Stadium: New Dundas Park Attendance: 2,202 Referee: Grant Irvine

Second leg

Cowdenbeath v Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

14 May 2022	Cowdenbeath	0–1 (0–4 agg.)	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Cowdenbeath
15:00		[19]	Martyniuk 62' (pen.)	Stadium: Central Park Attendance: 2,117 Referee: David Munro