2011–12 Scottish Second Division

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division
Season	2011–12
Champions	Cowdenbeath
Promoted	Cowdenbeath; Dumbarton; Airdrieonians F.C.
Relegated	Stirling Albion
Matches played	180
Goals scored	577 (3.21 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steven Doris (21)
Biggest home win	Albion Rovers 7–2 Airdrie United; (5 November 2011); Arbroath 6–1 Albion Rovers; (21 January 2012)
Biggest away win	East Fife 0–6 Dumbarton; (27 August 2011)
Highest scoring	(9 goals); Albion Rovers 7–2 Airdrie United; (5 November 2011)
Longest winning run	5 games; Arbroath
Longest unbeaten run	10 games; Arbroath; Dumbarton
Longest winless run	10 games; Albion Rovers; Forfar Athletic
Longest losing run	6 games; Stirling Albion
Highest attendance	1,490; Airdrie United v Albion Rovers; (2 January 2012)
Lowest attendance	207; Albion Rovers v Cowdenbeath; (3 December 2011)
	← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 Scottish Football League Second Division (also known as the 2011–12 Irn Bru Scottish Football League Second Division for sponsorship reasons) is the 18th season in the current format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. Livingston F.C. are the current champions.^[3]

Teams

Location of teams in Scottish Second Division 2011–12

As champions of the 2010–11 season, Livingston were directly promoted to the 2011–12 Scottish First Division.^[3] They were replaced by Stirling Albion who finished bottom of the 2010–11 Scottish First Division.^[3]

A second promotion place was available via a play-off tournament between the ninth-placed team of the 2010–11 Scottish First Division, Cowdenbeath, and the sides ranked second, third and fourth in the 2010–11 Scottish Second Division, Ayr United, Forfar Athletic and Brechin City respectively. The play off was won by Ayr United who defeated Brechin City in the final. Cowdenbeath were therefore relegated and replaced Ayr United.^[3]

Peterhead finished bottom at the end of the 2010–11 Scottish Second Division season so were relegated to the 2011–12 Scottish Third Division. They were replaced by Arbroath, the champions of the 2010–11 Scottish Third Division.

The ninth placed team of the 2010–11 Scottish Second Division, Alloa Athletic, entered a play-off tournament with the sides ranked second, third and fourth in the 2010–11 Scottish Third Division, Albion Rovers, Queen's Park and Annan Athletic respectively. The play off was won by Albion Rovers who defeated Annan Athletic in the final. Alloa Athletic were therefore relegated and replaced by Albion Rovers.

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Home ground	Capacity
Airdrie United	Airdrie	New Broomfield	10,171
Albion Rovers	Coatbridge	Cliftonhill	2,496
Arbroath	Arbroath	Gayfield Park	4,153
Brechin City	Brechin	Glebe Park	1,519
Cowdenbeath	Cowdenbeath	Central Park	4,370
Dumbarton	Dumbarton	Dumbarton Football Stadium	2,025
East Fife	Methil	Bayview Stadium	2,000
Forfar Athletic	Forfar	Station Park	4,602
Stenhousemuir	Stenhousemuir	Ochilview Park	3,776
Stirling Albion	Stirling	Doubletree Dunblane Stadium	3,808

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Airdrie United	Jimmy Boyle	Surridge	St Andrew's Hospice
Albion Rovers	Paul Martin	Macron	Reigart
Arbroath	Paul Sheerin	Pendle	Ogstons
Brechin City	Jim Weir	Pendle	Cancer Research UK
Cowdenbeath	Colin Cameron	Umbro	Subsea
Dumbarton	Alan Adamson	Surridge	Bet Butler
East Fife	John Robertson	1903 (clubs own brand)	Cogen Energy
Forfar Athletic	Dick Campbell	Pendle	Orchard Timber Products
Stenhousemuir	Davie Irons	Hummel	Figure 11 Communications
Stirling Albion	Jocky Scott	Puma	Prudential plc

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Cowdenbeath (C, P)	36	20	11	5	68	29	39	71	Promotion to the First Division
2	Arbroath	36	17	12	7	76	51	25	63	Qualification for the First Division play-offs
3	Dumbarton (O, P)	36	17	7	12	61	61	0	58^[a]
4	Airdrie United (P)	36	14	10	12	68	60	8	52^[b]
5	Stenhousemuir	36	15	6	15	54	49	5	51
6	East Fife	36	14	6	16	55	57	−2	48
7	Forfar Athletic	36	11	9	16	59	72	−13	42
8	Brechin City	36	10	11	15	47	62	−15	41
9	Albion Rovers (O)	36	10	7	19	43	66	−23	37	Qualification for Second Division play-offs
10	Stirling Albion (R)	36	9	7	20	46	70	−24	34	Relegation to the Third Division

Source: SPFL Archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Dumbarton won the First Division play-off final, and were promoted to the First Division.
^ Airdrie United lost the final of the First Division playoffs to Dumbarton. However following the demotion of Rangers to the third division prior to the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Dundee were promoted from the First Division to the SPL, and Airdrie United were promoted to the First Division to take their place. Stranraer were promoted from the Third to the Second Division to take the place of Airdrie United

Results

First half of season

Home \ Away	AIR	ALB	ARB	BRE	COW	DUM	EFI	FOR	STE	STI
Airdrie United		4–0	3–3	2–3	1–5	3–0	1–3	4–4	5–2	1–1
Albion Rovers	7–2		1–0	1–2	3–3	3–1	0–3	1–0	1–1	0–1
Arbroath	3–1	6–2		1–1	1–1	4–3	3–0	4–1	1–0	4–2
Brechin City	1–1	1–4	2–3		1–0	3–3	0–2	0–1	2–0	1–3
Cowdenbeath	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–1		0–0	3–2	3–1	2–0	2–0
Dumbarton	1–1	2–1	3–4	1–0	0–4		3–0	1–1	3–0	1–5
East Fife	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–3	0–6		4–3	1–3	1–0
Forfar Athletic	3–2	0–2	1–1	0–0	2–2	0–2	3–2		2–3	2–2
Stenhousemuir	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–1	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–3		4–0
Stirling Albion	1–4	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–4	2–2

Updated to match(es) played on 14 January 2012. Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home \ Away	AIR	ALB	ARB	BRE	COW	DUM	EFI	FOR	STE	STI
Airdrie United		1–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	2–3	2–0	3–0	0–3	4–1
Albion Rovers	0–1		1–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–2
Arbroath	2–2	6–1		2–3	1–1	2–0	2–2	0–1	0–2	2–0
Brechin City	1–1	2–1	1–1		2–2	2–2	1–3	2–1	1–0	1–2
Cowdenbeath	0–0	3–0	2–3	1–0		4–1	4–0	2–0	0–0	4–1
Dumbarton	2–1	1–0	3–2	4–2	0–2		0–4	1–0	0–2	4–1
East Fife	2–0	1–2	1–3	2–2	0–1	1–2		4–0	1–1	1–0
Forfar Athletic	2–3	4–0	2–4	4–1	1–0	1–1	1–4		1–2	4–3
Stenhousemuir	0–3	1–2	1–3	2–1	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–2		4–0
Stirling Albion	0–2	3–0	1–1	2–3	0–2	1–2	0–1	2–2	3–1

Updated to match(es) played on 5 May 2012. Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second Division play-offs

Times are BST (UTC 1)

Semi-finals

The fourth placed team in the Third Division (Elgin City ) will play the ninth placed team in the Second Division ( Albion Rovers ) and third placed team in the Third Division (Stranraer ) will play the second placed team in the Third Division (Queen's Park ). The play-offs will be played over two legs, the winning team in each semi-final will advance to the final.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Elgin City	1–2	Albion Rovers	1–0	0–2
Stranraer	5–1	Queen's Park	3–1	2–0

First legs

9 May

7:45 pm

Elgin City	1 – 0	Albion Rovers
Millar 53'	BBC Sport	O'Byrne 29'

Borough Briggs

Attendance: 1,248

Referee: Frank McDermott

9 May

7:45 pm

Stranraer	3 – 1	Queen's Park
Winter 17', 68' Malcolm 22'	BBC Sport	Quinn 48'

Stair Park

Attendance: 481

Referee: Bobby Madden

Second legs

12 May

3:00 pm

Albion Rovers	2 – 0	Elgin City
Gemmell 62' Chaplain 90'	BBC Sport

Cliftonhill

Attendance: 827

Referee: John McKendrick

12 May

3:00 pm

Queen's Park	0 – 2	Stranraer
	BBC Sport	Malcolm 12' Grehan 20'

Hampden Park

Attendance: 1,188

Referee: David Somers

Final

The two semi-final winners will play each other over two legs. The winning team will be awarded a place in the 2012–13 Second Division. However, in July 2012, following discussions as a result of the sale of Rangers FC in administration to Charles Green, the result was moot; both teams were awarded a place in the Second Division.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Stranraer	3–3 (3–5 pens.)	Albion Rovers	2–0	1–3

First leg

16 May 2012

7:45 pm

Stranraer	2 – 0	Albion Rovers
McKeown 39' Moore 90'	BBC Sport

Stair Park

Attendance: 506

Referee: Stevie O'Reilly

Second leg

20 May 2012

3:00 pm

Albion Rovers	3 – 1 (5–3 pens.) (a.e.t.)	Stranraer
Chaplain 6', 33' (pen.) Love 25'	BBC Sport	27' Grehan

Cliftonhill

Attendance: 1,008

Referee: Brian Winter

Statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 21 April 2012 (GMT)^[4]

Pos	Player	Club	Goals
1	Steven Doris	Arbroath	21
2	Ryan Donnelly	Airdrie United	20
2	Ryan Wallace	East Fife	20
3	Marc McKenzie	Cowdenbeath	17
4	Chris Templeman	Forfar Athletic	16
5	Paul McManus	Brechin City	15
6	Bryan Prunty	Dumbarton	14
7	Scott Agnew	Dumbarton	13
	Lewis Coult	Cowdenbeath
	Andy Rodgers	Stenhousemuir
8	Gavin Swankie	Arbroath	11
9	Stewart Kean	Stenhousemuir	10

Hat-tricks

As of 7 March 2012 14:21 (GMT)

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Bryan Prunty⁴	Dumbarton	East Fife	6–0	27 August 2011
Scott Chaplain	Albion Rovers	Airdrie United	7–2	5 November 2011
Ryan Donnelly	Airdrie United	Forfar Athletic	4–4	2 November 2011
Lewis Coult	Cowdenbeath	Stirling Albion	4–1	11 February 2012
Steven Doris	Arbroath	Forfar Athletic	4–1	22 February 2012

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Awards

Month	Second Division Manager of the Month		SFL Player of the Month		SFL Young player of the Month		Ginger Boot
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
August^[5]	Paul Sheerin	Arbroath	First division player		First division player		Third division player
September^[6]	Colin Cameron	Cowdenbeath	First division player		Mark Ridgers	East Fife	First division player
October^[7]	John Robertson	East Fife	First division player		First division player		Ryan Donnelly	Airdrie United
November^[8]	Colin Cameron	Cowdenbeath	First division player		Ryan Donnelly	Airdrie United	Third division player
December^[9]	Jim Weir	Brechin City	First division player		Third division player		Third division player
January^[10]	Alan Adamson	Dumbarton	Third division player		Third division player		Third division player
February^[11]	Alan Adamson	Dumbarton	Steven Doris	Arbroath	First division player		Lewis Coult	Cowdenbeath
March
April

References

^ Airdrie United 1 - 0 Albion Rovers : Monday, 2 January 2012 Archived 6 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Scottish Football League. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
^ Albion Rovers 3 - 3 Cowdenbeath : Saturday, 3 December 2011 Archived 6 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Scottish Football League. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d BBC Sport - Football - Ups and downs, news.bbc.co.uk Retrieved 2011-05-25.
^ "Scottish Football League Championship Second Division Top Scorers". BBC Sport.
^ "IRN-BRU Phenomenal Awards for August 2011". Scottish Football League. 9 September 2011. Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
^ "IRN-BRU Phenomenal Awards - September 2011". Scottish Football League. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 11 December 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - October 2011". Scottish Football League. 18 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
^ "IRN-BRU SFL November Manager and Player of the Month Awards". Scottish Football League. 18 December 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - December 2011". Scottish Football League. 23 January 2011. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - January 2012". Scottish Football League. 17 February 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - February 2012". Scottish Football League. 16 March 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.

[table_hth_DUM0.024893438455133-4] Dumbarton won the First Division play-off final, and were promoted to the First Division.

[table_hth_AIR0.024893438455133-5] Airdrie United lost the final of the First Division playoffs to Dumbarton. However following the demotion of Rangers to the third division prior to the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Dundee were promoted from the First Division to the SPL, and Airdrie United were promoted to the First Division to take their place. Stranraer were promoted from the Third to the Second Division to take the place of Airdrie United

[High-1] Airdrie United 1 - 0 Albion Rovers : Monday, 2 January 2012 Archived 6 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Scottish Football League. Retrieved 2012-03-06.

[Low-2] Albion Rovers 3 - 3 Cowdenbeath : Saturday, 3 December 2011 Archived 6 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Scottish Football League. Retrieved 2012-03-06.

[BBC-3] BBC Sport - Football - Ups and downs, news.bbc.co.uk Retrieved 2011-05-25.

[6] "Scottish Football League Championship Second Division Top Scorers". BBC Sport.

[Aug_11-7] "IRN-BRU Phenomenal Awards for August 2011". Scottish Football League. 9 September 2011. Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.

[Sep_11-8] "IRN-BRU Phenomenal Awards - September 2011". Scottish Football League. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 11 December 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.

[Oct_11-9] "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - October 2011". Scottish Football League. 18 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-19.

[Nov_11-10] "IRN-BRU SFL November Manager and Player of the Month Awards". Scottish Football League. 18 December 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.

[Dec_11-11] "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - December 2011". Scottish Football League. 23 January 2011. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2012.

[Jan_12-12] "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - January 2012". Scottish Football League. 17 February 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.

[Mar_16-13] "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards - February 2012". Scottish Football League. 16 March 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.

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