Winning End to League Season

With a shaky period in late March, Rovers were looking to take advantage of a favourable end of season schedule which gave them additional home games and matches against bottom half opposition.

In the end the team responded, despite a defeat in the month’s opening match, to finish the season on a high with four straight victories. This proved to be the top performance in the league for April, the second time this year that the club have taken the accolade – February was the other.

The month also saw the team gain the extra two points required to keep them in front of Brechin and secure third place. It’s worth noting that Brechin were the 2nd best team in April while Stirling, who had already secured at least a playoff place when the month started, had a dismal end with four defeats – giving further evidence to those who suspect that teams need competitive matches to bring out the best.

The highlight of the month was clearly the 2-0 defeat of champions Morton which improved the Rovers record against top-half teams to 6 wins, 2 draws and 8 defeats. As you’d expect most teams have poor records against the top half but Stirling were clearly best of the three playoff contenders.

One final note of caution for the playoffs is that Airdrie ended the season going unbeaten in five matches. Clearly a tough couple of matches await Brechin in the first round.

More stats analysis once the playoffs are over with a look at the season in total but one worth sharing is that Rovers improved by 20 points over last season which is pretty astounding given where the club were when John McGlynn took charge.