# 2008–09 Scottish Third Division

The 2008–09 Scottish Football League Third Division (also known as the 2008–09 Irn-Bru Scottish Football League Third Division for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season in the format of ten teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The season started on 2 August 2008 and ended on 9 May 2009. Dumbarton F.C. finished top and were promoted alongside Stenhousemuir F.C. as play-off winners. Cowdenbeath F.C. were also promoted due to Livingston being demoted to the Third Division.

## Teams for 2008–09

East Fife as champions of the 2007–08 season were directly promoted to the 2008–09 Scottish Second Division. They were replaced by Berwick Rangers who finished bottom of the 2007–08 Scottish Second Division.
A second promotion place was available via a play-off tournament between the ninth-placed team of the 2007–08 Scottish Second Division, Cowdenbeath, and the sides ranked second, third and fourth in the 2007–08 Scottish Third Division, Stranraer, Montrose and Arbroath respectively. The play off was won by Arbroath who defeated Stranraer in the final. Cowdenbeath were therefore relegated. However, due to Gretna's expulsion from the Football League, an extra promotion place was awarded, thus Stranraer as losing play-off finalists were also promoted.
Annan Athletic, formerly of the East of Scotland League, were admitted to the SFL to replace Gretna, who resigned their league status on 3 June.) The SFL voted on the matter on 3 July, with 5 clubs having put forward applications. Annan, who like Gretna are from the Dumfries and Galloway region, were chosen above other applicants Cove Rangers, Edinburgh City, Preston Athletic and Spartans.

### Overview

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)
Newly admitted into SFL
* Annan Athletic

## Stadia and attendances

| Team | Stadium | Capacity | Highest | Lowest | Average |
| Annan Athletic | Galabank Stadium | 3,500 | 1,343 | 422 | 734 |
| Dumbarton | Strathclyde Homes Stadium | 2,025 | 1,398 | 462 | 716 |
| Stenhousemuir | Ochilview Park | 2,624 | 805 | 311 | 496 |
| Forfar Athletic | Station Park | 5,177 | 621 | 362 | 460 |
| East Stirlingshire | Ochilview Park | 2,624 | 812 | 343 | 450 |
| Cowdenbeath | Central Park | 2,000 | 1,181 | 193 | 415 |
| Berwick Rangers | Shielfield Park | 4,131 | 570 | 288 | 414 |
| Elgin City | Borough Briggs | 3,927 | 537 | 276 | 392 |
| Montrose | Links Park | 3,292 | 570 | 294 | 379 |
| Albion Rovers | Cliftonhill | 1,249 | 452 | 237 | 312 |
Source: The League Insider A.^ East Stirlingshire ground shared with Stenhousemuir.

## Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Table position |
| Albion Rovers | John McCormack | Resigned | 28 June | Paul Martin | 9 July | pre-season |
| Montrose | Jim Weir | Sacked | 19 October | Steven Tweed | 15 January 2009 | 4 |
| Berwick Rangers | Alan McGonigal | Resigned | 13 November | Jimmy Crease | 26 December | 9 |
| Elgin City | Robbie Williamson | Resigned | 20 December 2008 | Ross Jack | 23 January | 10 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or qualification |
| 1 | Dumbarton (C, P) | 36 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 65 | 36 | +29 | 67 | Promotion to the Second Division |
| 2 | Cowdenbeath (P) | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 48 | 34 | +14 | 63 | Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs |
| 3 | East Stirlingshire | 36 | 19 | 4 | 13 | 57 | 50 | +7 | 61 | Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs |
| 4 | Stenhousemuir (O, P) | 36 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 55 | 46 | +9 | 56 | Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs |
| 5 | Montrose | 36 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 47 | 48 | −1 | 54 | |
| 6 | Forfar Athletic | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 53 | 51 | +2 | 51 | |
| 7 | Annan Athletic | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 56 | 45 | +11 | 50 | |
| 8 | Albion Rovers | 36 | 11 | 6 | 19 | 39 | 47 | −8 | 39 | |
| 9 | Berwick Rangers | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 46 | 61 | −15 | 37 | |
| 10 | Elgin City | 36 | 7 | 5 | 24 | 31 | 79 | −48 | 26 | |
* ↑ Cowdenbeath were promoted due to Livingston's demotion from the First Division to the Third.
* ↑ The 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams will be entered into a play-off with the Second Division's 9th placed team. 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 | ALB | ANN | BER | COW | DUM | EST | ELG | FOR | MON | STE |
| Albion Rovers | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Annan Athletic | 2–4 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Berwick Rangers | 0–3 | 3–0 | | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 3–2 |
| Cowdenbeath | 2–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Dumbarton | 1–1 | 4–1 | 5–2 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| East Stirlingshire | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 5–2 | | 5–2 | 0–3 | 5–0 | 0–2 |
| Elgin City | 1–6 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–4 | | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–2 |
| Forfar Athletic | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Montrose | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 0–3 |
| Stenhousemuir | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | |

### Second half of season

| Home \ Away | ALB | ANN | BER | COW | DUM | EST | ELG | FOR | MON | STE |
| Albion Rovers | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Annan Athletic | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Berwick Rangers | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Cowdenbeath | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Dumbarton | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 6–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| East Stirlingshire | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 |
| Elgin City | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 1–4 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Forfar Athletic | 4–0 | 2–1 | 5–4 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | | 0–3 | 4–4 |
| Montrose | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | | 5–3 |
| Stenhousemuir | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Mike Jack | Annan Athletic | 15 |
| 1 | Scott Dalziel | Stenhousemuir | 15 |
| 3 | Darren Gribben | Berwick Rangers | 14 |
| 3 | Ross Clark | Dumbarton | 14 |
| 3 | Andy Rodgers | East Stirlingshire | 14 |
| 3 | Brian Graham | East Stirlingshire | 14 |
| 7 | Ross Campbell | Forfar Athletic | 13 |
| 8 | John Gemmell | Cowdenbeath | 12 |
| 8 | Kevin Motion | Stenhousemuir | 12 |
| 10 | Bobby Barr | Albion Rovers | 11 |
| 10 | Derek Carcary | Dumbarton | 11 |
Source: The League Insider

## Events

* 3 July – Annan Athletic, formerly of the East of Scotland League were admitted to the SFL, beating Cove Rangers, Edinburgh City, Preston Athletic and Spartans. They replaced Gretna, who resigned their league status on 3 June.
* 13 November – A consortium led by Berwick Rangers Supporters Club agreed a deal to take over the club. Following a poor run of form, manager Allan McGonigal resigned at the same time saying "I made up my mind that when the current directors left I would move on."

## 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 |