Bo’ness seal promotion to Lowland League - almost

The South of Scotland League will not be supplying play-off opposition for the East of Scotland Premier League winners after declaring their season null and void.

With no need for one, the play-off will now be cancelled - despite confusion, it had not been included with other competitions’ decision to scrap the head-to-head format.

That means the BU have one less hurdle to overcome in their Lowland League bid and now wait for the Hampden rubber stamp to their application to join the Scottish Football Association and seal the step up. That was expected to come next month at the SFA AGM which had originally been scheduled for early June, but under the urrent coronavirus pandemic restrictions, and with football evaluating and assessing restart options in various committees and the Joint Response Group, that may need to wait.

Another question will be whether or not they play Kelty Hearts during the next football season. SPFL clubs are said to be revisiting league reconstruction, which may in turn open up a passage for Barry Ferguson’s Fife side to move into the senior SPFL leagues as Lowland League champions.