We said the other week that the Scottish football season is over, but that would be doing a disservice to four teams for whom there is still everything to play for.
In the first of two games, Brechin and Cowdenbeath will do battle for the right to join Stirling Albion in next years First Division, while Forfar could consign their Angus rivals Arbroath back to the Third division at their expense.
Brechin's 2-1 aggregate win over First division side Airdrie (and which also relegated the Diamonds) was sweet revenge for the Glebe Park outfit. Back in 2008, Brechin where at the receiving end of a 6-1 mauling by Airdrie, which kept Brechin in the Second division for another year. The following season Brechin again made the play-offs, but lost out to 5-2 to Raith Rovers.
Brechin have been a real yo-yo team: promotion to Division One in 1990 was promptly followed by relegation the year after. In 1993, the team again won promotion to the First division, but two back-to-back relegations followed to send the team back down to the Third. In the intervening years Brechin have bounced between the Second and Third divisions, but Jim Duffy's men will try to make it third-time lucky in the play-offs if they can overcome Cowdenbeath over two legs to secure First division football in the town for the first time since 2005/06.
Cowdenbeath beat fellow Second division outfit Alloa to make this final. It's nearly 76 years since The Blue Brazil last played in Divison One. That year they where relegated along with Third Lanark, although hopefully, given the history of Third Lanark that is where the similarities end. Cowdenbeath's financial troubles have been much in the news lately, and with East of Scotland Football League Champions Spartans apparently keen to take Cowdenbeaths place in the Scottish Fooball League, promotion to the First division may well make them more attractive to any raiding parties coming to Central Park.
This season the two sides have met four times, with two draws and one win each. Cowdenbeath will be without Dene Droudge and midfielder Danny MacKay, while Brechin City will need to make do without Jon Seeley, Anton Kurakins, , Willie Dyer and Neil Janczyk.
Arbroath's season has not been one to look back on fondly. Despite a strong start to the season which saw them beath Cowdenbeath 2-1 at Central Park and Dumbarton 3-1 at home, the side slowly drifted down the table - by the start of December they found themselves in 9th place, where they would remain for the rest of the season.
Come the end of the campaign, a complex set of results could have seen them avoid this fixture against Forfar altogether, but it was not to be. Nevertheless, the passage into the Final was considerably easier than they would probably have wished for: the Corinthians of Queens Park where easily dispatched 6-2 over two legs to set up this rather tasty local fixture against Third Division Forfar Athletic.
It's only about 20 miles inland from Abroath to Forfar, so there's talk here of a real derby. Forfar, currently managed by Jim Campbell, squeezed their way past East Stirlingshire over two thrilling ties, emerging at the end of it all with a 3-2 aggregate win, with Stephen Tulloch's 82nd minute goal in the second leg being enough to send Forfar through to the final.
Arbroath, The Red Lichties, have a slightly better record against The Loons at home, having won one more fixture between the two sides over the years. Forfar where the highest scoring home-team in Division Three last year, while on the road only champions Livingston, Berwick Rangers and, somewhat bizarrely Elgin City, scored more.
It's only been 2 years since Forfar finished bottom of the Third division. Under Dick Campbell, who took over from Jim Moffat at the end of the 2007/08 season, Forfar steadily climbed up the table to finish 6th last season, and second during this last campaign. Had it not been for a very strong Livingston side, who knows what might have happened.
The return leg of both games is to be played on Sunday 16th May, the day after the Scottish Cup final between Ross County and Dundee United.
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