2023–24 Scottish League One

The 2023–24 Scottish League One (known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football. The season began on 5 August 2023.^[1]

Scottish League One

Season	2023–24
Dates	5 August 2023 – 4 May 2024
Champions	Falkirk
Promoted	Falkirk Hamilton Academical (via play-offs)
Relegated	Stirling Albion (via play-offs) Edinburgh City
Matches played	180
Goals scored	572 (3.18 per match)
Top goalscorer	Callumn Morrison 23 goals
Biggest home win	Hamilton Academical 5–0 Annan Athletic (29 September 2023) Hamilton Academical 5–0 Stirling Albion (11 November 2023) Hamilton Academical 5–0 Queen of the South (2 December 2023) Cove Rangers 7–2 Edinburgh City (23 December 2023) Falkirk 5–0 Stirling Albion (30 December 2023) Stirling Albion 5–0 Kelty Hearts (27 January 2024)
Biggest away win	Montrose 1–7 Falkirk (30 March 2024)
Highest scoring	Cove Rangers 7–2 Edinburgh City (23 December 2023)
Longest winning run	Cove Rangers Falkirk 7 games
Longest unbeaten run	Falkirk 36 games
Longest winless run	Edinburgh City 17 games
Longest losing run	Edinburgh City 7 games
Highest attendance	7,272 Falkirk 2–2 Alloa Athletic (4 May 2024)
Lowest attendance	226 Edinburgh City 1–4 Kelty Hearts (7 October 2023)
Total attendance	214,508
Average attendance	1,191
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 4 May 2024.

Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Annan Athletic, Cove Rangers, Edinburgh City, Falkirk, Hamilton Academical, Kelty Hearts, Montrose, Queen of the South and Stirling Albion.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2022–23 season.

To League One Promoted from League Two Annan Athletic Stirling Albion[2] Relegated from the Championship Cove Rangers Hamilton Academical

From League One Relegated to League Two Clyde Peterhead Promoted to the Championship Airdrieonians Dunfermline Athletic[3]

Stadia and locations

Alloa Athletic	Annan Athletic	Cove Rangers	Edinburgh City
Recreation Park	Galabank	Balmoral Stadium	Meadowbank Stadium
Capacity: 3,100[4]	Capacity: 2,504[5]	Capacity: 3,023[6]	Capacity: 1,280[7]
Falkirk	Alloa Annan Athletic Cove Rangers Edinburgh City Falkirk Hamilton Kelty Hearts Montrose Queen of the South Stirling Albion Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One		Hamilton Academical
Falkirk Stadium			New Douglas Park
Capacity: 7,937[8]			Capacity: 6,018[9]
Kelty Hearts	Montrose	Queen of the South	Stirling Albion
New Central Park	Links Park	Palmerston Park	Forthbank Stadium
Capacity: 2,181[10]	Capacity: 4,936[11]	Capacity: 8,690[12]	Capacity: 3,808[13]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic	Andy Graham	Scott Taggart	Pendle	Northern Gas and Power
Annan Athletic	Peter Murphy	Steven Swinglehurst	EV2 Sportswear	M & S Engineering
Cove Rangers	Paul Hartley	Mitch Megginson	Adidas	ACE Group
Edinburgh City	Michael McIndoe	Alieu Faye	Hummel	AMG Construction Group
Falkirk	John McGlynn	Stephen McGinn	O'Neills	Crunchy Carrots
Hamilton Academical	John Rankin	Scott Martin	LF Sports	Active Access
Kelty Hearts	Michael Tidser	Reece Lyon	Umbro	I-Scaff Access Solutions
Montrose	Stewart Petrie	Paul Watson	Uhlsport	Montrose Port Authority (Home) InterMoor (Away)
Queen of the South	Marvin Bartley	Josh Todd	Macron	Blinds by Mark McGowan
Stirling Albion	Darren Young	Ross McGeachie	Joma	Prudential

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Kelty Hearts	John Potter	Appointed Raith Rovers technical director	12 May 2023[14]	Pre-season	Michael Tidser	17 May 2023[15]
Edinburgh City	Alan Maybury	Mutual consent	3 October 2023[16]	10th	Michael McIndoe	9 October 2023[17]
Alloa Athletic	Brian Rice	Appointed Livingston coach	9 November 2023	6th	Andy Graham	15 November 2023

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Falkirk (C, P)	36	27	9	0	96	28	+68	90	Promotion to the Championship
2	Hamilton Academical (O, P)	36	22	8	6	73	28	+45	74	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
3	Alloa Athletic	36	16	8	12	60	55	+5	56
4	Montrose	36	15	8	13	58	57	+1	53
5	Cove Rangers	36	14	7	15	58	63	−5	49
6	Kelty Hearts	36	12	8	16	48	63	−15	44
7	Queen of the South	36	11	8	17	46	53	−7	41
8	Annan Athletic	36	9	12	15	55	68	−13	39
9	Stirling Albion (R)	36	10	9	17	39	58	−19	39	Qualification for the League One play-offs
10	Edinburgh City (R)	36	3	5	28	38	98	−60	8[a]	Relegation to League Two

Source: ^[19]
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).^[20]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. On 25 January 2024, Edinburgh City were deducted 6 points, having failed to pay its players’ wages on time and defaulting its tax obligations to HMRC, as well as not engaging fully in the disciplinary process leading to further breaches of SPFL Rules.^[18]

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 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season (Matches 1–18)

Home \ Away	ALO	ANN	COV	EDI	FAL	HAM	KEL	MON	QOS	STI
Alloa Athletic	—	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–4	0–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	0–1
Annan Athletic	1–1	—	1–3	3–2	0–3	1–2	2–2	1–3	0–1	3–0
Cove Rangers	1–2	3–2	—	7–2	2–2	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	3–1
Edinburgh City	3–0	3–2	2–2	—	0–2	0–3	1–4	1–5	1–2	1–3
Falkirk	3–0	3–0	4–0	2–1	—	0–0	2–1	3–2	1–0	3–0
Hamilton Academical	2–1	5–0	1–0	1–1	1–3	—	1–1	1–0	5–0	5–0
Kelty Hearts	2–1	1–1	0–1	3–2	1–5	0–2	—	0–1	3–1	1–0
Montrose	2–1	1–1	0–3	5–2	0–0	0–3	0–2	—	1–4	1–0
Queen of the South	3–4	3–1	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–2	1–3	2–3	—	0–1
Stirling Albion	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–2	2–2	1–0	0–2	1–1	—

Source: ^[21]
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.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

Home \ Away	ALO	ANN	COV	EDI	FAL	HAM	KEL	MON	QOS	STI
Alloa Athletic	—	1–1	4–1	3–1	0–5	0–1	3–0	0–0	0–2	1–0
Annan Athletic	2–3	—	4–2	3–0	3–3	1–3	3–2	2–2	2–1	2–1
Cove Rangers	2–3	2–1	—	3–1	0–1	1–3	2–2	1–4	0–2	4–2
Edinburgh City	2–5	1–2	0–2	—	2–2	2–5	0–3	1–0	1–1	1–3
Falkirk	2–2	1–1	5–1	4–1	—	3–2	2–2	3–0	1–0	5–0
Hamilton Academical	1–2	2–3	2–0	1–0	0–2	—	4–1	1–1	0–0	3–0
Kelty Hearts	2–1	1–1	0–1	3–1	0–1	0–5	—	0–2	0–0	1–0
Montrose	4–3	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–7	1–2	4–2	—	3–2	0–1
Queen of the South	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–4	0–2	1–2	2–3	—	2–2
Stirling Albion	1–5	1–1	2–2	4–0	1–2	0–0	5–0	1–0	0–0	—

Source: ^[21]
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

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Callumn Morrison	Falkirk	23
2	Rumarn Burrell	Cove Rangers	21
3	Ross MacIver	Falkirk	14
	Kevin O'Hara	Hamilton Academical
5	Bobby Wales	Alloa Athletic	12
	Aidan Nesbitt	Falkirk

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	John Rankin	Hamilton Academical	Jamie Smith	Hamilton Academical
September	John McGlynn	Falkirk	Callumn Morrison	Falkirk
October			Kyle MacDonald	Hamilton Academical
November	Paul Hartley	Cove Rangers	Rumarn Burrell	Cove Rangers
December	John McGlynn	Falkirk
January			Calvin Miller	Falkirk
February	Andy Graham	Alloa Athletic	Taylor Steven	Alloa Athletic
March	John McGlynn	Falkirk	Callumn Morrison	Falkirk
April			Aidan Smith	Annan Athletic

The SPFL League One manager of the year was John McGlynn of Falkirk.

The SPFL League One player of the year was Callumn Morrison of Falkirk.

League One play-offs

Bracket

	Semi-finals							Final
	1	Stirling Albion	1	0	1
	4	Dumbarton	2	0	2
								Dumbarton		2	2	4
								The Spartans		1	2	3
	3	The Spartans	2	5	7
	2	Peterhead	1	1	2

Semi-finals

First leg

Dumbarton v Stirling Albion

7 May 2024	Dumbarton	2–1	Stirling Albion	Dumbarton
19:45	Hilton 12' T.Wallace 84' (pen.)		Hilson 27'	Stadium: Dumbarton Football Stadium Attendance: 900 Referee: Ross Hardie

The Spartans v Peterhead

7 May 2024	The Spartans	2–1	Peterhead	Edinburgh
19:45	Watson 17' Henderson 90' (pen.)		O'Keefe 8'	Stadium: Ainslie Park Attendance: 843 Referee: Dan McFarlane

Second leg

Peterhead v The Spartans

11 May 2024	Peterhead	1–5 (2–7 agg.)	The Spartans	Peterhead
15:00	Strachan 66'		Russell 3' Henderson 30', 67' (pen.), 78' Whyte 62'	Stadium: Balmoor Stadium Attendance: 947 Referee: Iain Snedden

Stirling Albion v Dumbarton

11 May 2024	Stirling Albion	0–0 (1–2 agg.)	Dumbarton	Stirling
15:00				Stadium: Forthbank Stadium Attendance: 1,087 Referee: Lloyd Wilson

Final

First leg

Dumbarton v The Spartans

14 May 2024	Dumbarton	2–1	The Spartans	Dumbarton
19:30	Wallace 21' Gray 29'		Sonkur 48'	Stadium: Dumbarton Football Stadium Attendance: 850 Referee: Steven Kirkland

Second leg

The Spartans v Dumbarton

17 May 2024	The Spartans	2–2 (3–4 agg.)	Dumbarton	Edinburgh
19:30	Russell 3' Henderson 90+4' (pen.)		Ruth 5', 53'	Stadium: Ainslie Park Attendance: 2,281 Referee: Grant Irvine