2009–10 Scottish Third Division

Irn-Bru Scottish Third Division
Season	2009–10
Champions	Livingston
Promoted	Livingston; Forfar Athletic
Relegated	n/a
Matches played	180
Goals scored	460 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Craig Gunn (18)
Biggest home win	Forfar Athletic 5–1 East Stirlingshire; (29 August 2009); East Stirlingshire 4–0 Forfar Athletic; (6 March 2010); Montrose 4–0 Forfar Athletic; (16 March 2010)
Biggest away win	Elgin City 1–6 Livingston; (7 November 2009); Montrose 0–5 Livingston; (24 April 2010)
Highest scoring	Montrose 4–5 Stranraer; (16 February 2010)
Longest winning run	8 games; East Stirlingshire
Longest unbeaten run	12 games; Livingston
Longest winless run	19 games; Montrose
Longest losing run	4 games; Albion Rovers; Annan Athletic; East Stirlingshire; Livingston
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 Scottish Football League Third Division (also known as the 2009–10 Irn-Bru Scottish Football League Third Division for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season in the format of ten teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The season started on 8 August 2009 and ended on 1 May 2010. Livingston F.C. finished top and were promoted alongside Forfar Athletic as play-off winners.

Teams

Promotion and relegation from 2008–09

Location of teams in 2009-10 Scottish Third Division

Dumbarton as champions of the 2008–09 season were directly promoted to the 2009–10 Scottish Second Division. They were replaced by Stranraer who finished bottom of the 2008–09 Scottish Second Division.

A second promotion place was available via a play-off tournament between the ninth-placed team of the 2008–09 Scottish Second Division, Queen's Park, and the sides ranked second, third and fourth in the 2008–09 Scottish Third Division, Cowdenbeath, East Stirlingshire and Stenhousemuir respectively. The play off was won by Stenhousemuir who defeated Cowdenbeath in the final. Queen's Park were therefore relegated. However, Livingston F.C. were demoted to the Third Division, leading to an extra promotion being awarded.^[1] Cowdenbeath as runners-up of the play-off final were therefore promoted.

Relegated from First Division to Third Division

Livingston^[1]

Relegated from Second Division to Third Division

Stranraer
Queen's Park (via playoffs)

Promoted from Third Division to Second Division

Dumbarton
Stenhousemuir (via playoffs)
Cowdenbeath (losing play-off finalists, promoted due to Livingston's demotion to the Third Division)

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity^[2]
Albion Rovers	Coatbridge	Cliftonhill	2,496
Annan Athletic	Annan	Galabank	3,000
Livingston	Livingston	Almondvale Stadium	10,005
Berwick Rangers	Berwick-upon-Tweed	Shielfield Park	4,065
Forfar Athletic	Forfar	Station Park	5,177
East Stirlingshire	Stenhousemuir	Ochilview Park^[A]	3,746
Elgin City	Elgin	Borough Briggs	3,716
Montrose	Montrose	Links Park	3,292
Queen's Park	Glasgow	Hampden Park	52,025
Stranraer	Stranraer	Stair Park	6,250

A.^ East Stirlingshire ground shared with Stenhousemuir.^[3]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Livingston (C, P)	36	24	6	6	63	25	+38	78	Promotion to the Second Division
2	Forfar Athletic (P, O)	36	18	9	9	59	44	+15	63	Qualification for the Second Division Play-offs^[a]
3	East Stirlingshire	36	19	4	13	50	46	+4	61
4	Queen's Park	36	15	6	15	42	42	0	51
5	Albion Rovers	36	13	11	12	35	35	0	50
6	Berwick Rangers	36	14	8	14	46	50	−4	50
7	Stranraer	36	13	8	15	48	54	−6	47
8	Annan Athletic	36	11	10	15	41	42	−1	43
9	Elgin City	36	9	7	20	46	59	−13	34
10	Montrose	36	5	9	22	30	63	−33	24

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

^ 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 2010–11 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	EST	ELG	FOR	LIV	MON	QPA	STR
Albion Rovers		0–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–1
Annan Athletic	0–0		1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	2–0	3–1	1–0
Berwick Rangers	2–0	2–1		0–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0
East Stirlingshire	2–0	1–3	1–0		1–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–1
Elgin City	0–2	1–1	3–3	1–2		0–2	1–6	0–1	0–1	1–2
Forfar Athletic	2–2	2–1	2–0	5–1	3–3		0–1	2–2	0–1	1–0
Livingston	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	3–2	1–2		2–0	2–1	3–0
Montrose	0–0	0–0	1–3	0–3	1–1	1–2	0–3		1–2	1–1
Queen's Park	0–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	0–3	2–2	1–2	3–2		1–2
Stranraer	1–1	2–0	2–4	1–2	0–2	1–0	0–3	2–0	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 12 April 2010. Source: Scottish Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home \ Away	ALB	ANN	BER	EST	ELG	FOR	LIV	MON	QPA	STR
Albion Rovers		1–0	4–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–0
Annan Athletic	1–2		0–1	1–0	3–3	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–2	3–2
Berwick Rangers	1–2	0–2		2–2	2–1	0–4	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–0
East Stirlingshire	3–1	3–1	3–2		2–0	4–0	0–2	2–3	0–3	2–0
Elgin City	3–1	1–0	1–5	0–1		0–2	0–1	5–2	0–1	2–3
Forfar Athletic	1–1	1–5	3–0	4–1	1–0		2–2	2–0	1–1	2–0
Livingston	2–0	3–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–3		1–0	2–0	2–1
Montrose	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–4	4–0	0–5		1–2	4–5
Queen's Park	1–0	3–2	2–3	2–0	0–1	1–3	0–1	3–0		2–5
Stranraer	2–1	3–2	3–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–0