2023–24 Scottish League Two

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

Scottish League Two

Season	2023–24
Dates	5 August 2023 – 4 May 2024
Champions	Stenhousemuir
Promoted	Stenhousemuir, Dumbarton (via play-offs)
Matches played	180
Goals scored	467 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Blair Henderson 18 goals
Biggest home win	Peterhead 6–0 Elgin City (30 September 2023)
Biggest away win	Stenhousemuir 1–6 Clyde (24 February 2024)
Highest scoring	Dumbarton 4–4 Clyde (23 December 2023) The Spartans 2–6 Dumbarton (16 March 2024)
Longest winning run	Stenhousemuir 12 games
Longest unbeaten run	Stenhousemuir 17 games
Longest winless run	Bonnyrigg Rose Clyde 10 games
Longest losing run	Stranraer 5 games
Highest attendance	1,512 Stenhousemuir 1–1 Bonnyrigg Rose (27 April 2024)
Lowest attendance	273 Stranraer 1–2 Elgin City (16 March 2024)
Total attendance	105,586
Average attendance	586
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 4 May 2024.

Ten teams contested the league: Bonnyrigg Rose, Clyde, Dumbarton, East Fife, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Peterhead, Stenhousemuir, Stranraer and The Spartans.

Teams

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

To League Two Promoted from Lowland Football League The Spartans Relegated from League One Clyde Peterhead

From League Two Relegated to Lowland Football League Albion Rovers Promoted to League One Annan Athletic Stirling Albion[2]

Stadia and locations

Bonnyrigg Rose	Clyde	Dumbarton	East Fife
New Dundas Park	New Douglas Park[3]	Dumbarton Football Stadium	Bayview Stadium
Capacity: 3,000[4]	Capacity: 6,018[5]	Capacity: 2,020[6]	Capacity: 1,980[7]
Elgin City	Bonnyrigg Rose Clyde Dumbarton East Fife Elgin City Forfar Athletic Peterhead Stenhousemuir Stranraer Spartans Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League Two		Forfar Athletic
Borough Briggs			Station Park
Capacity: 4,520[8]			Capacity: 6,777[9]
Peterhead	Stenhousemuir	Stranraer	The Spartans
Balmoor	Ochilview Park	Stair Park	Ainslie Park
Capacity: 3,150[10]	Capacity: 3,746[11]	Capacity: 4,178[12]	Capacity: 3,612[13]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bonnyrigg Rose	Calum Elliot	Jonathan Stewart	Puma	G. Fitzsimmons and Son (Home) Shepherd Chartered Surveyors (Away)
Clyde	Ian McCall	Barry Cuddihy	Puma	HomesBook Factoring (Home) Whitemoss Dental (Away)
Dumbarton	Stephen Farrell	Mark Durnan	Macron	Ice & Fire Wellness
East Fife	Dick Campbell	Stewart Murdoch	Erreà	BW Technology (Home) The Taxi Centre Fife (Away)
Elgin City	Allan Hale	Matthew Cooper	Joma	McDonald & Munro
Forfar Athletic	Ray McKinnon	Stuart Morrison	Pendle	Orchard Timber Products
Peterhead	Jordon Brown Ryan Strachan	Jason Brown	Puma	The Score Group
Stenhousemuir	Gary Naysmith	Gregor Buchanan	Uhlsport	LOC Hire
Stranraer	Scott Agnew	Grant Gallagher	Joma	Stena Line
The Spartans	Douglas Samuel	Kevin Waugh	Macron	J-TEQ EMS Solutions Ltd

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Clyde	Jim Duffy	Appointed director of football	24 May 2023	Pre-season	Brian McLean	2 June 2023
Elgin City	Charlie Charlesworth, Ross Draper and Stevie Dunn	End of interim spell	25 May 2023		Ross Draper	25 May 2023
	Ross Draper	Resigned	5 September 2023	9th	Barry Smith	5 September 2023
Clyde	Brian McLean	Sacked	22 October 2023		Ian McCall	15 November 2023
Elgin City	Barry Smith	Mutual consent	13 November 2023		Allan Hale	5 December 2023
East Fife	Greig McDonald	Resigned	5 February 2024	6th	Dick Campbell	6 February 2024
Bonnyrigg Rose	Robbie Horn	Sacked	24 March 2024	8th	Calum Elliot	25 March 2024

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Stenhousemuir (C, P)	36	18	14	4	50	31	+19	68	Promotion to League One
2	Peterhead	36	16	12	8	58	39	+19	60	Qualification for the League One play-offs
3	The Spartans	36	15	13	8	53	43	+10	58
4	Dumbarton (O, P)	36	16	9	11	56	44	+12	57
5	East Fife	36	11	11	14	46	47	−1	44
6	Forfar Athletic	36	9	15	12	38	45	−7	42
7	Elgin City	36	10	10	16	35	59	−24	40
8	Bonnyrigg Rose	36	9	12	15	47	48	−1	39
9	Clyde	36	9	11	16	46	58	−12	38
10	Stranraer (O)	36	9	9	18	38	53	−15	36	Qualification for the League Two play-off final

Source: ^[14]
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).^[15]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

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	BON	CLY	DUM	EFI	ELG	FOR	PET	STE	STR	SPA
Bonnyrigg Rose	—	3–2	1–1	4–2	5–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–2
Clyde	0–2	—	0–4	0–3	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	2–2	1–2
Dumbarton	4–0	4–4	—	1–0	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	3–1	1–1
East Fife	0–3	2–0	0–1	—	4–0	1–1	0–3	0–2	4–0	0–3
Elgin City	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	—	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–4
Forfar Athletic	1–2	1–1	2–4	0–0	0–0	—	1–3	1–3	1–1	2–2
Peterhead	2–1	2–1	3–1	2–0	6–0	1–2	—	0–0	3–2	0–1
Stenhousemuir	1–0	2–2	2–4	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	—	5–0	3–2
Stranraer	3–1	1–0	5–0	1–1	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–3	—	3–4
The Spartans	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	3–0	—

Source: ^[16]
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	BON	CLY	DUM	EFI	ELG	FOR	PET	STE	STR	SPA
Bonnyrigg Rose	—	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	4–0	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–1
Clyde	3–2	—	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–0
Dumbarton	2–0	1–0	—	1–2	2–2	2–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–0
East Fife	1–4	1–1	3–2	—	2–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–2
Elgin City	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–0	—	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–2
Forfar Athletic	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	2–1	—	3–3	1–1	2–0	1–0
Peterhead	0–0	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	—	2–1	2–0	0–1
Stenhousemuir	1–1	1–6	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	—	1–0	0–0
Stranraer	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	—	1–2
The Spartans	2–1	1–1	2–6	1–3	1–2	1–0	2–2	0–2	0–0	—

Source: ^[16]
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	Blair Henderson	The Spartans	18
2	Matthew Aitken	Stenhousemuir	14
3	Neil Martyniuk	Bonnyrigg Rose	13
	Nathan Austin	East Fife
5	Martin Rennie	Clyde	12

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Douglas Samuel	The Spartans	Jamie Dishington	The Spartans
September	Gary Naysmith	Stenhousemuir	Gregor Buchanan	Stenhousemuir
October	Douglas Samuel	The Spartans	Bradley Whyte	The Spartans
November	Gary Naysmith	Stenhousemuir	Matthew Aitken	Stenhousemuir
December
January			Blair Henderson	The Spartans
February	Ray McKinnon	Forfar Athletic	Martin Rennie	Clyde
March	Dick Campbell	East Fife	Alan Trouten	East Fife
April	Stephen Farrell	Dumbarton	Bradley Barrett	Bonnyrigg Rose

League Two play-offs

The Pyramid play-off was due to be contested between the champions of the 2023–24 Highland Football League and the 2023–24 Lowland Football League. East Kilbride secured their place in the play-offs as the Lowland Football League representative on 12 April 2024. Buckie Thistle won the Highland League on 20 April 2024. However, on 25 April 2024 the SFA confirmed that Buckie Thistle had not received the necessary Bronze licence to be able to compete in the SPFL,^[17] therefore the Pyramid play-off was cancelled and East Kilbride were automatically advanced to the League Two play-off final against Stranraer. Stranraer's victory in the final meant that they remained in League Two for the 2024–25 season.

Pyramid play-off

First leg

East Kilbride v Buckie Thistle

27 April 2024	East Kilbride	Walkover	Buckie Thistle	East Kilbride
15:00				Stadium: K-Park Training Academy

Second leg

Buckie Thistle v East Kilbride

4 May 2024	Buckie Thistle	Walkover	East Kilbride	Buckie
15:00				Stadium: Victoria Park

Final

First leg

East Kilbride v Stranraer

11 May 2024	East Kilbride	2–2	Stranraer	East Kilbride
15:00	Stirling 32' Robertson 71'	[18]	McIntosh 45+2' Ross 60'	Stadium: K-Park Training Academy Attendance: 652 Referee: Dan McFarlane

Second leg

Stranraer v East Kilbride

18 May 2024	Stranraer	3–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 agg.)	East Kilbride	Stranraer
15:00	Gallagher 44' Ross 117' Gilmartin 120+1'	[19]	Samson 76'	Stadium: Stair Park Attendance: 1,871 Referee: Craig Napier