Captain Leiper leaves Linlithgow for family reasons

The 30-year-old, who began his career with Raith Rovers joined Rose from Bo’ness United in 2015.

He was a key member of the team who became club legends by reaching the last 16 of the senior Scottish Cup in 2016.

Club president Jon Mahoney paid tribute to Leiper and said all at the club wished him all the best.

He said: “We’re sorry to see him go but we totally understand. He’s got a young family and works pretty long hours.

“He was keen to get more family time and feels he can do that with Armadale who are down at a more local level.

“We’re all involved in this as a hobby and it’s important that you’re hobby doesn’t overwhelm everything else.

“We certainly wish him all the best at Armadale. He’s been great for Linlithgow and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of him in the future.

“Colin’s a really good guy and that’s one of the reasons he was the club captain.

“He was able to engage with our supporters and everybody who comes around the club.”

Leiper has been succeeded as skipper by Ruari MacLennan and Jon said: “It’s nice to have a local lad as the club captain and to see someone who’s come up through the community club structure taking on that role.

“Ruari’s a good, experienced player and both he and his brother [Roddy] are supportive of what we do.”