THE BATTLE TO STAY IN THE SCOTTISH LEAGUE

SCOTTISH LEAGUE TWO CURRENT TABLE (BOTTOM FOUR ONLY)

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF-GA	GD	PTS	WIN%	PPG	CS
7.	ANNAN ATHLETIC	10	2	2	6	9-15	-6	8	20.00	0.80	2
8.	COWDENBEATH	8	2	1	5	6-15	-9	7	25.00	0.88	2
9.	ALBION ROVERS	8	2	0	6	9-20	-11	6	25.00	0.75	0
10.	BRECHIN CITY	9	1	1	7	5-24	-19	4	11.11	0.44	2

CURRENT FORM OF BOTTOM FOUR 

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF-GA	GD	PTS	WIN%	PPG	CS
1.	ALBION ROVERS	6	2	0	4	8-15	-7	6	33.33	1.00	0
2.	COWDENBEATH	6	1	1	4	5-12	-7	4	16.67	0.67	0
3.	ANNAN ATHLETIC	6	1	1	4	3-10	-7	4	16.67	0.67	1
4.	BRECHIN CITY	6	0	1	5	2-16	-14	1	00.00	0.17	1

Brechin City picked up only their fourth point of the season in 0-0 draw with fellow struggler's Annan Athletic on Tuesday 22nd December. Their only other points came from a 0-2 away win at Albion Rovers who are just above them in the Scottish League Two table. 

In the battle to stay off the bottom of the table and avoid a possible promotion/relegation play off it's Albion Rovers who have picked up two very important wins in their last six played against Elgin City and Annan Athletic. 

Both Brechin City and Albion Rovers lost at home to non-league opposition in the First Round of William Hill Scottish Cup - Buckie Thistle and Linlithgow Rose recording famous victories. 

In last season's League Two which was ended due to Covid in March Brechin City were bottom of the table followed by Albion Rovers. Annan Athletic were in 7th and Cowdenbeath were in 4th position. 

With no wins and just two goals scored in their last six league games played it's looking like a long hard season for Brechin City already but just one or two wins in their next few games could make the table better reading for all their loyal supporters. Their next three league games look tough with an away trip to Stirling Albion (currently 4th), at home to Queens Park (1st) and away at Stranraer (3rd). 

The two games in the next two weekends of fixtures (club are involved in the Scottish Cup for next weekend) which will have a huge bearing on the bottom of the table are Annan Athletic's games against Cowdenbeath and Albion Rovers. 

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES 

Saturday 16th January

Annan Athletic v Cowdenbeath

Elgin City v Edinburgh City 

Queens Park v Stranraer 

Stenhousemuir v Albion Rovers 

Stirling Albion v Brechin City 

Saturday 23rd January 

Albion Rovers v Annan Athletic

Brechin City v Queens Park 

Cowdenbeath v Stranraer 

Edinburgh City v Stenhousemuir 

Elgin City v Stirling Albion 

 Saturday 30th January

Albion Rovers v Edinburgh City

Annan Athletic v Elgin City 

Queens Park v Stirling Albion

Stenhousemuir v Cowdenbeath 

Stranraer v Brechin City

Brechin City who joined the league in 1923 are in real danger of losing their status despite as recently as 17/18 playing in the second tier alongside Livingston, Dundee United and St Mirren. Albion Rovers initially joined the league in 1903 and had a break between 1915 to 1919 when they re-joined - Could The Coatbridge based side leave the league at the end of the season? 

Since promotion/relegation between the bottom division in the Scottish League was introduced with a play off between the winners of the Highland v Lowland league play-off we have seen East Stirlingshire demoted in 2016 and Berwick Rangers in 2019. Due to the pandemic there was no play-off last season. 

Since leaving league football East Stirlingshire have finished in 2nd, 4th, 6th and 4th positions in the Lowland League. Rangers struggled against last season eventually ending up in 12th place of 16 teams in the Lowland League which like many leagues was decided on a PPG basis due to the pandemic. 

This season Berwick are currently in 11th place and East Stirlingshire are in 5th.