gwd440

What if Talbot treat both legs as 'one off games' ?

Incident packed game at Gretna. Home side had plenty of effort but CSS were easily the better and more dangerous side. On 17 minutes, a Gretna player moved unchallenged through midfield, shot and scored from about 20 yards. There was a short delay after the goal, which turned out to be due to the Strollers keeper having dislocated a finger. He went off to A&E and was replaced by (I assume) an outfield player. CSS equalised about 15 minutes later, slack defending allowing their no.9 to go through 1 on 1. Only one winner after this, but despite a number of goal mouth scrambles and shots missing by inches, CSS couldn't find the net. Meanwhile Gretna failed to test the replacement keeper who only had one weak shot to save. Five minutes from the end there was a clash of heads. CSS player went off to get his head bandaged and reappeared quite quickly. The Gretna player was the player manager. While his physio tried (and failed) to bandage his head, he tried to substitute himself. Gretna had already used 3 substitutes, so this was refused and a Gretna player was yellow carded for delaying the free kick (while waiting for the substitution to happen!). While I was watching the manager argue with the Lino and his bench, Gretna attacked down the left, crossed and scored with a header at the far post. Strollers will wonder how they didn't win this comfortably, but full marks to Gretna for their effort and commitment.

Does this mean the WoSFL is now effectively a 'closed shop' at 80 members. So any potential future pyramid applicants need to wait for a vacancy or apply to the East or South?

Oops. Rookie mistake, now corrected. The point I'm making is that Strollers weren't there originally, but are now. I agree they joined to make up the numbers, but that was also the year that Threave decided to drop down. So, although they weren't a direct replacement, they did strengthen the league that year (unlike Hawick who only lasted a couple of years.).

Come on Jim, more due diligence needed. From the bottom of the Lowland League we have lost: Threave (now WoS3) Preston (now EoS1) Hawick (now EoS3) Selkirk (defunct) Whitehill Welfare (now Eos1) Vale of Leithen (EoS1) In their place we now have: Tranent Boness Cowdenbeath Berwick R Caledonian Braves Civil Service Strollers Are you seriously suggesting the former 6 are equal to their replacements. If not, then logically (Mr Spock mode) the league must be stronger.

Now this new precedent has been set I expect next season the extra place will be offered to the team who finishes 15th in the Highland League. Keith must be gutted. So close...

Still only 1 promoted. Edinburgh Uni would be reprieved.

ok

I think the argument is that Abbey Vale will be blocking Creetown from entering the promotion play-off, in the same way that Beith will probably block Darvel/Talbot. Not suggesting either club has done anything wrong, but would there be a case in future for the best placed licensed team to be put forward?

Whitletts are West First Division.

Well they've both been going for nearly 10 years and seem to be doing ok. Selkirk were around for about 130 years. Maybe longevity is overrated?

If you want certainty, make sure you finish in 11th or higher. Finishing 12th - 14th, means you could be affected by events outside your control. As FWF says, all will become clearer as the season progresses. The rules have been set, so nobody should be surprised at the end of the season.

Especially if you're not finishing anywhere near the relegation zone. I'm no fan of OG Broomhill, but until last season their worst season in the LL was their first - 9th of 14. Since then they've finished above such 'giants' as Kelty, Boness, East Stirlingshire, Spartans etc. They may have got there via form-filling, but they've stayed there on merit so far. Fingers crossed though...

This season, all Conference A & B teams are at Division 1 level. The bottom 7/8/9 of each Conference will be relegated into Division 2 next season. Conference X is becoming Division 3. Placing any current Conference A or B teams into Division 3 would mean a drop of 2 divisions, which would be inconsistent. It's a little bit tough on the Conference X teams. but as LLL says, things will rectify themselves over the next 2-3 seasons. I think the league got their restructure about right.

There is no current rule saying what would happen if 2 teams are relegated into the WoSFL and the champions aren't promoted, so it is not correct to say that 5 teams would be automatically relegated. There probably needs to be such a rule in place. It's probably unlikely to apply for a few years yet, but if the unthinkable happened and Darvel came back down with Cumbernauld Colts and the WoSFL champions didn't go up, they would need to relegate 5 teams to keep the Premier at 16. The same would then apply to the divisions below. To potentially relegate 5 from 16 seems a bit too much. May be better to promote 2 in and relegate 2-4 depending on what happens above.