# 2008–09 Scottish Second Division

The 2008–09 Scottish Second Division was the fifteenth season of the Second Division in its current format of ten teams.

## Promotion and relegation from 2007–08
### First & Second Divisions

Relegated from First Division to Second Division
* Stirling Albion
Promoted from Second Division to First Division
* Ross County
* Airdrie United (losing play-off finalists, promoted due to Gretna's demotion to Third Division)

### Second & Third Divisions

Relegated from Second Division to Third Division
* Berwick Rangers
* Cowdenbeath (via play-offs)
Promoted from Third Division to Second Division
* East Fife
* Arbroath (via play-offs)
* Stranraer (losing play-off finalists, promoted due to Gretna's demotion to Third Division)

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Raith Rovers (C, P) | 36 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 60 | 27 | +33 | 76 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 2 | Ayr United (P) | 36 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 71 | 38 | +33 | 74 | Qualification for the First Division Play-offs |
| 3 | Brechin City | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 51 | 45 | +6 | 62 | Qualification for the First Division Play-offs |
| 4 | Peterhead | 36 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 54 | 39 | +15 | 56 | Qualification for the First Division Play-offs |
| 5 | Stirling Albion | 36 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 59 | 49 | +10 | 53 | |
| 6 | East Fife | 36 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 39 | 44 | −5 | 44 | |
| 7 | Arbroath | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 44 | 46 | −2 | 41 | |
| 8 | Alloa Athletic | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 47 | 59 | −12 | 41 | |
| 9 | Queen's Park (R) | 36 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 35 | 54 | −19 | 33 | Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs |
| 10 | Stranraer (R) | 36 | 3 | 7 | 26 | 31 | 90 | −59 | 16 | Relegation to the Second Third Division |
* ↑ The 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams will be entered into a play-off with the First Division's 9th placed team. The winning team will be awarded a place in the 2009–10 First Division
* ↑ The 9th placed team will be entered into a play-off with the Third Division's 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams. The winning team will be awarded a place in the 2009–10 Second Division.

## Results

Teams play each other four times in this league. In the first half of the season each team plays every other team twice (home and away) and then do the same in the second half of the season.

### First half of season

| Home \ Away | ALO | ARB | AYR | BRE | EFI | PET | QPA | RAI | STI | STR |
| Alloa Athletic | | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 5–1 |
| Arbroath | 4–1 | | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Ayr United | 3–0 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 |
| Brechin City | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| East Fife | 1–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Peterhead | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 0–1 | | 4–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 |
| Queen's Park | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Raith Rovers | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Stirling Albion | 3–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–1 | | 3–2 |
| Stranraer | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | |

### Second half of season

| Home \ Away | ALO | ARB | AYR | BRE | EFI | PET | QPA | RAI | STI | STR |
| Alloa Athletic | | 2–0 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| Arbroath | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| Ayr United | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 4–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 5–0 |
| Brechin City | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| East Fife | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | | 0–3 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 4–0 |
| Peterhead | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Queen's Park | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Raith Rovers | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Stirling Albion | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | | 1–2 |
| Stranraer | 1–3 | 1–5 | 1–4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–8 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Kevin Smith | Raith Rovers | 18 |
| 2 | Bryan Prunty | Ayr United | 15 |
| 3 | David McKenna | Stirling Albion | 13 |
| 4 | Paul McManus | East Fife | 12 |
| 5 | Martin Grehan | Stirling Albion | 11 |
| 6 | Ryan Stevenson | Ayr United | 10 |
| 7 | Graham Weir | Raith Rovers | 9 |
| 7 | David Gormley | Ayr United | 9 |
| 7 | Graeme Sharp | Peterhead | 9 |
| 7 | Martin Bavidge | Peterhead | 9 |
Source: The League Insider

## Attendances

| Team | Stadium | Capacity | Highest | Lowest | Average |
| Raith Rovers | Stark's Park | 10,104 | 4,812 | 1,294 | 2,106 |
| Ayr United | Somerset Park | 11,998 | 2,363 | 1,057 | 1,477 |
| East Fife | Bayview Stadium | 2,000 | 1,980 | 533 | 864 |
| Queen's Park | Hampden Park | 52,500 | 1,763 | 466 | 730 |
| Stirling Albion | Forthbank Stadium | 3,808 | 1,125 | 404 | 642 |
| Arbroath | Gayfield Park | 4,125 | 921 | 411 | 638 |
| Alloa Athletic | Recreation Park | 3,100 | 1,057 | 331 | 637 |
| Peterhead | Balmoor | 4,000 | 837 | 400 | 615 |
| Brechin City | Glebe Park | 3,960 | 780 | 315 | 552 |
| Stranraer | Stair Park | 5,600 | 891 | 124 | 303 |
Source:The League Insider

## Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Table position |
| Brechin City | Michael O'Neill | Resigned | 15 December 2008 | Jim Duffy | 9 January | 3 |
| Stranraer | Derek Ferguson | Resigned | 24 January | Keith Knox | 17 February | 10 |
| East Fife | Dave Baikie | Resigned | 14 April | Stevie Crawford | 14 April | 6 |

## Monthly awards

| Month | First Division manager | First Division manager | SFL Player | SFL Player | SFL Young player | SFL Young player |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club |
| August | Roberto Landi | Livingston | Stephen Robertson | Airdrie United | Leigh Griffiths | Livingston |
| September | Jim McIntyre | Dunfermline Athletic | Paul McManus | East Fife | Calum Elliot | Livingston |
| October | Derek McInnes | St Johnstone | Steven Milne | St Johnstone | Dominic Shimmin | Greenock Morton |
| November | Jocky Scott | Dundee | Bryan Prunty | Ayr United | Kyle Benedictus | Dundee |
| December | John Brown | Clyde | Alan Main | St Johnstone | Chris McMenamin | Berwick Rangers |
| January | Ian McCall | Partick Thistle | Willie McLaren | Clyde | Bobby Barr | Albion Rovers |
| February | Jocky Scott | Dundee | Gary Harkins | Partick Thistle | Fraser McLaren | Berwick Rangers |
| March | Paul Hegarty | Livingston | Kevin Rutkiewicz | St Johnstone | Leigh Griffiths | Livingston |
| April | Gordon Chisholm | Queen of the South | Stephen Dobbie | Queen of the South | Kevin Moon | St Johnstone |

## Second Division play-offs
### Semi-finals

The ninth placed team in the Second Division played the fourth placed team in the Third Division and third placed team in the Second Division played the second placed team in the Second Division. The play-offs were played over two legs, the winning team in each semi-final advanced to the final.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| East Stirlingshire | 2 – 3 | Cowdenbeath | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Stenhousemuir | 2 – 1 | Queen's Park | 2–1 | 0–0 |
First legs
Second legs

### Final

The two semi-final winners played each other over two legs, the home team in the 1st Leg was determined by a draw conducted on 16 April 2008. The winning team were awarded a place in the 2008–09 Second Division.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Cowdenbeath | 0–0 (4–5 pen.) | Stenhousemuir | 0–0 | 0–0 |
First leg
Second leg