2023–24_South_of_Scotland_Football_League

2023–24 South of Scotland Football League

Football league season

The 2023–24 South of Scotland Football League was the 78th season of the South of Scotland Football League, and the 10th season as part of the sixth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Abbey Vale were the reigning champions, but could only finish fourth in the table.

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

South of Scotland Football League
Season	2023–24
Dates	29 July 2023 – 8 May 2024
Champions	Dalbeattie Star
Matches played	132
Goals scored	639 (4.84 per match)
Biggest home win	Dalbeattie Star 10–1 Wigtown & Bladnoch (9 December 2023) Stranraer reserves 9–0 Upper Annandale (23 March 2024)
Biggest away win	St Cuthbert Wanderers 0–13 Newton Stewart (5 August 2023)
Highest scoring	St Cuthbert Wanderers 0–13 Newton Stewart (5 August 2023)
Longest winning run	8 matches: Dalbeattie Star
Longest unbeaten run	15 matches: Dalbeattie Star
Longest winless run	21 matches: Wigtown & Bladnoch
Longest losing run	11 matches: Wigtown & Bladnoch
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 8 May 2024.

The championship title, and qualification for the Lowland League play-off, was decided in the final fixture of the season on 8 May with Creetown and Dalbeattie Star facing off against each other at Castle Cary Park – having been postponed on 20 April due to ground issues.^[1] A 1–1 draw saw Dalbeattie Star take the title by two points, and as a result, faced Broxburn Athletic in the play-off, losing 2–12 on aggregate.

Teams

St Cuthbert Wanderers

Stranraer Reserves

Upper Annandale

Wigtown & Bladnoch

Location of teams in 2023–24 South of Scotland Football League

The following team changed divisions after the 2022–23 season.

To South of Scotland League

Relegated from Lowland Football League

Dalbeattie Star

From South of Scotland League

Resigned

Caledonian Braves reserves

Stadia and locations

More information Team, Location ...

Team	Location	Home ground	Surface	Capacity	Seats	Floodlit
Abbey Vale	New Abbey	Maryfield Park	Grass	500^[2]	48	No
Creetown^[SFA]	Creetown	Castle Cary Park	Grass	500^[3]	0	Yes
Dalbeattie Star^[SFA]	Dalbeattie	Islecroft Stadium	Grass	1,320^[4]	100	Yes
Lochar Thistle	Dumfries	Wilson Park	Grass	1,000^[5]	0	Yes
Lochmaben	Lochmaben	Whitehills Park	Grass	1,000^[6]	0	No
Mid-Annandale	Lockerbie	New King Edward Park	Artificial	500^[7]	0	Yes
Newton Stewart^[SFA]	Newton Stewart	Blairmount Park	Artificial	1,000^[8]	0	Yes
Nithsdale Wanderers	Sanquhar	Lorimer Park	Grass	1,000^[9]	0	Yes
St Cuthbert Wanderers^[SFA]	Kirkcudbright	St Mary's Park	Artificial	1,000^[10]	0	Yes
Stranraer reserves	Stranraer	Stranraer Academy	Artificial	1,000^[11]	0	Yes
Upper Annandale	Moffat	Moffat Academy	Grass	1,000^[12]	0	No
Wigtown & Bladnoch^[SFA]	Wigtown	Trammondford Park	Grass	888^[13]	0	Yes

^SFA Club with an SFA licence^[14] eligible to participate in the Lowland League promotion play-off should they win the league.

Stranraer reserves are ineligible for promotion.

League table

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Dalbeattie Star (C)	22	17	3	2	92	22	+70	54	Qualification for the Lowland League play-off
2	Creetown	22	16	4	2	69	20	+49	52
3	Newton Stewart	22	16	2	4	84	29	+55	50
4	Abbey Vale	22	15	3	4	80	24	+56	48
5	Lochar Thistle	22	12	6	4	62	31	+31	42
6	Stranraer reserves	22	12	1	9	61	58	+3	37	Ineligible for promotion
7	Nithsdale Wanderers	22	11	3	8	55	44	+11	36
8	Mid-Annandale	22	8	1	13	53	78	−25	25
9	Upper Annandale	22	4	2	16	29	76	−47	14
10	Lochmaben	22	2	4	16	22	78	−56	10
11	St Cuthbert Wanderers	22	2	1	19	12	83	−71	7
12	Wigtown & Bladnoch	22	1	2	19	20	96	−76	5

Source: ^[15]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions

Results

More information Home \ Away, ABB ...

Home \ Away	ABB	CRE	DAL	LOT	LOC	MID	NEW	NIT	SCW	STR	UPA	WIG
Abbey Vale	—	0–2	0–1	5–0	7–1	6–2^{[lower-alpha 1]}	3–0	0–0	5–0	3–3	3–1^{[lower-alpha 2]}	4–1
Creetown	3–2	—	1–1	0–0	3–0	6–0	3–3	1–1	4–1^{[lower-alpha 3]}	1–2	7–0	8–0^{[lower-alpha 4]}
Dalbeattie Star	2–3	3–0	—	2–2	6–1	3–1	3–0	3–0	3–0	7–0	6–0	10–1^{[lower-alpha 5]}
Lochar Thistle	2–2^{[lower-alpha 6]}	1–2	4–4	—	4–1^{[lower-alpha 7]}	5–0	3–3^{[lower-alpha 8]}	4–1	6–0	3–1	1–1	3–1
Lochmaben	1–3	1–6	0–4	0–4	—	1–2	1–3	0–3	1–1	3–2	3–3	1–1
Mid-Annandale	1–5	0–3	1–6	3–5	7–0	—	4–7	2–2	3–2	2–3	5–3	4–0
Newton Stewart	2–0	2–3	2–4	1–0	7–0	5–0	—	2–1	3–0	3–0	6–0	6–2
Nithsdale Wanderers	0–3	2–3	4–3	3–2	3–2	6–1	1–3	—	3–0	3–5	5–1	4–2
St Cuthbert Wanderers	1–11	1–2	0–6	0–3	2–3	1–3	0–13	0–3	—	0–3	0–2	1–0
Stranraer reserves	0–6	0–4	2–5	0–3	3–1	5–4	0–4	4–2	3–0	—	9–0	7–0
Upper Annandale	1–3	0–2^{[lower-alpha 9]}	0–3^{[lower-alpha 10]}	0–2	3–0	2–3^{[lower-alpha 11]}	1–5	2–3^{[lower-alpha 12]}	2–0^{[lower-alpha 13]}	2–6	—	4–1^{[lower-alpha 14]}
Wigtown & Bladnoch	0–6	0–5^{[lower-alpha 15]}	0–7	1–5	1–1	2–5	0–4	1–5	1–2	2–3	3–1	—

Source: South of Scotland Football League^[31]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

Match played at North West Community Campus, Dumfries.^[16]
Match played at Dumfries High School, Dumfries.^[17]
Match played at Blairmount Park, Newton Stewart.^[18]
Match played at Stranraer Academy 3G, Stranraer.^[19]
Match played at North West Community Campus, Dumfries.^[20]
Match played at North West Community Campus.^[21]
Match played at North West Community Campus.^[22]
Match played at North West Community Campus.^[23]
Match played at New King Edward Park, Lockerbie.^[24]
Match played at New King Edward Park, Lockerbie.^[25]
Match played at Raydale Park, Gretna.^[26]
Match played at New King Edward Park, Lockerbie.^[27]
Match played at New King Edward Park, Lockerbie.^[28]
Match played at New King Edward Park, Lockerbie.^[29]
Match played at Blairmount Park, Newton Stewart.^[30]

References

[1]
Gillespie, Stuart (26 April 2024). "South of Scotland League title decider between Creetown and Dalbeattie Star postponed due to burst pipe". Daily Record. Reach plc. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
[2]
Abbey Vale , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[3]
Creetown , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[4]
Dalbeattie Star , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 26 June 2023.
[5]
Lochar Thistle , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[6]
"Lochmaben". nonleaguescotland.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
[7]
Mid-Annandale , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[8]
Newton Stewart , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[9]
Nithsdale Wanderers , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[10]
St Cuthbert Wanderers , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[11]
"Stranraer". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
[12]
Upper Annandale , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[13]
Wigtown & Bladnoch , nonleaguescotland.org.uk, Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[14]
"Licensed Clubs - August 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 2 August 2022.
[15]
"Tables". South of Scotland Football League. South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
[16]
"Abbey Vale vs Mid Annandale". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
[17]
"Abbey Vale 3 - 1 Upper Annandale". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
[18]
"Creetown 4 - 1 St Cuthbert Wanderers". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
[19]
"Creetown 8 - 0 Wigtown & Bladnoch". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
[20]
"Dalbeattie Star 10 - 1 Wigtown & Bladnoch". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
[21]
"Lochar Thistle 2 - 2 Abbey Vale". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
[22]
"Lochar Thistle vs Lochmaben". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
[23]
Lochar Thistle FC [@LocharThistleFC] (6 October 2023). "⚽️⚽️VENUE CHANGE⚽️⚽️ @The_Creesiders are the visitors to Dumfries tomorrow for a @SOSFLeague clash. With the weather a bit on the damp side and our Youths in Scottish Cup action the Seniors will now be playing at NWCC. Thistle Kitchen will still be in operation. 🥧☕️🥤 🔴⚪️⚫️" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 October 2023 – via Twitter.
[24]
"Upper Annandale 0 - 2 Creetown". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
[25]
Upper Annandale FC [@Uppers1966] (6 April 2024). "Half time at a windy New King Edward Park 🏟️ Upper Annandale 0-0 Dalbeattie Star. Dalbeattie down to 10 🟥 #montheuppers ⚫️⚪️" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 April 2024 – via Twitter.
[26]
"Upper Annandale 2 - 3 Mid Annandale". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
[27]
"Upper Annandale 2 - 3 Nithsdale Wanderers". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
[28]
"Upper Annandale 2 - 0 St Cuthbert Wanderers". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
[29]
Upper Annandale FC [@Uppers1966] (4 January 2024). "⚫️⚪️ First matchday of 2024! 🙌⚽️ It's back to league action to kick off the first fixture of the new year! We welcome @WBFC3 to Lockerbie this Saturday, home of Mids. Due to the school holidays, we cannot access the school so are on the road! 🚗 #montheuppers ⚫️⚪️" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 January 2024 – via Twitter.
[30]
"Wigtown & Bladnoch 0 - 5 Creetown". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
[31]
"South of Scotland League Results". South of Scotland Football League. Retrieved 8 May 2024.

External links

Official website

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