After a staggering 8,540 votes, plenty deliberation and mixture of opinions, the Lowland League Supporters Team of the Season has now been completed. Here’s how the team looks and we have a lowdown of how each player has made it into the squad.
Goalkeeper – Jamie Barclay (East Stirlingshire) 40%
Shire’s skipper has been an ever present for the club, playing every league fixture during the last two seasons. This year saw him have another impressive campaign where he collected seven clean sheets and received 40% of the votes, narrowly beating Kelty stopper Scott Christie to a place in the team.
Right Back – Connor Greene (East Stirlingshire) 37%
A key-player for Shire since he joined from Falkirk in 2015, has been a regular in defence and has now made 181 appearances for the club and is their leading all-time top scoring defender as he added another seven goals to his tally this season.
Left Back – Gary Cennerazzo (Spartans) 34%
Rejoined Spartans at the beginning of the season and has been a consistent performer for Dougie Samuel’s side. Made 34 appearances in all competitions, picking up five man of the match awards. Just pipped Kelty’s Keir Macauley to a place in the side with 34% of the vote compared to Macauley’s 32%.
Centre Back – Andy Grant (East Stirlingshire) 28%
Completes a trio of Shire players in the squad as he won 28% of the votes in an extremely tight poll for the centre back position. Has now surpassed 100 appearances for Derek Ure’s side as he notched two goals from defence and was an award winner at Shire’s Player of the Year night.
Centre Back – Angus Mailer (University of Stirling) 27%
Played a remarkable 52 times for Chris Geddes’ side in all competitions this season in an impressive campaign for the young defender. All those appearances meant he played a total of 4460 minutes of football as his 27% of the vote edged him into the team ahead of BSC’s Ross McMillan who had 26%.
Right Midfield – Sean Winter (East Kilbride) 35%
The first player from the champions to make the time, the popular winger again had a solid season in the Lowland League. Chipped in with four goals and a number of assists which has earned him a new contract at K Park for the 2019-20 season.
Left Midfield – Blair Atkinson (Spartans) 42%
Had to be patient to wait for a regular place in the side, but grasped his opportunity with both hands and ended as Spartans top goalscorer in all competitions with 13 goals. Those strikes included two hat-tricks which came against East Stirlingshire and Cumbernauld Colts as he beat Stirling Uni’s Blair Lyons to a spot in the team.
Centre Midfield – Stephen Husband (Kelty Hearts) 54%
A runaway winner in the polls for central midfield and deservedly so for the former Blackpool man. He scored seven times in the league including a winning goal against Gala and contributed 22 assists in all competitions for Kelty this season.
Centre Midfield – Sean McKirdy (Kelty Hearts/Gala Fairydean Rovers) 18%
An impressive season for the former Hearts youngster. Was a stand-out performer under Dean Shanks at Gala Fairydean Rovers where he operated as a box to box midfielder. His impressive outings in the Borders earned him a move to Kelty Hearts where he appears to have hit the ground running and formed a strong partnership alongside Husband and means he has made the team of the season two years in a row now.
Striker – Craig Malcolm (East Kilbride) 32%
Expected to be one of the first names on the team sheet in this squad and rightly so as the Kilby attacker finished the season as the top scorer in the division with 25 goals which helped propel his side to the title including hat-tricks against BSC Glasgow and Gretna 2008.
Striker – Stuart Cargill (Kelty Hearts) 32%
An impressive season for Kelty’s marksman who scored 16 times on league duty and a further 10 times in cup competitions. Scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of Edusport Academy in January which led to him becoming the club’s all-time leading goalscorer having found the net 163 times.
