2016–17 Highland Football League

Press & Journal Highland League

Season	2016–17
Champions	Buckie Thistle
Matches played	306
Goals scored	1,250 (4.08 per match)
Biggest home win	Buckie Thistle 9–0 Strathspey Thistle
Biggest away win	Rothes 0–9 Wick Academy
Highest scoring	Deveronvale 2–9 Buckie Thistle Fort William 3–8 Wick Academy Nairn County 3–8 Buckie Thistle Strathspey Thistle 2–9 Buckie Thistle
Longest winning run	Buckie Thistle (10)
Longest unbeaten run	Cove Rangers (13)
Longest winless run	Fort William (16)
Longest losing run	Fort William (8) Strathspey Thistle (8)
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

The 2016–17 Highland Football League started in July 2016 and ended on 22 April 2017.

For promotion to Scottish League Two, the league champions playoff with the Lowland Football League champions (or other eligible team from outside the SPFL to be nominated by the Scottish FA), with the winner then playing the team finishing 10th and bottom in Scottish League Two in a promotion and relegation playoff to determine the entrants for the 2017–18 League Two season.

Brora Rangers

Buckie Thistle

Clachnacuddin

Cove Rangers

Deveronvale

Formartine United

Forres Mechanics

Fort William

Fraserburgh

Huntly

Inverurie Loco Works

Keith

Lossiemouth

Nairn County

Rothes

Strathspey Thistle

Turriff United

Wick Academy

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Location of teams in 2016–17 Highland Football League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Buckie Thistle (C)	34	26	4	4	130	36	+94	82	Qualification to League Two play-off semi-finals
2	Cove Rangers	34	25	7	2	109	30	+79	82
3	Brora Rangers	34	26	3	5	116	36	+80	81
4	Formartine United	34	22	7	5	82	47	+35	73
5	Fraserburgh	34	19	6	9	77	48	+29	63
6	Forres Mechanics	34	17	7	10	84	63	+21	58
7	Turriff United	34	18	4	12	56	42	+14	58
8	Wick Academy	34	15	8	11	75	52	+23	53
9	Inverurie Loco Works	34	14	8	12	71	53	+18	50
10	Keith	34	15	2	17	74	88	−14	47
11	Clachnacuddin	34	11	8	15	53	77	−24	41
12	Lossiemouth	34	11	5	18	52	70	−18	38
13	Nairn County	34	9	7	18	57	74	−17	34
14	Huntly	34	9	7	18	54	97	−43	34
15	Deveronvale	34	9	3	22	51	75	−24	30
16	Rothes	34	7	5	22	37	106	−69	26
17	Fort William	34	3	2	29	44	136	−92	11
18	Strathspey Thistle	34	2	3	29	28	120	−92	9

Source: Highland Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	BROR	BUCK	CLAC	COVE	DEVE	FORM	FORR	FORT	FRAS	HUNT	LOCO	KEITH	LOSS	NAIRN	ROTH	STRA	TURR	WICK
Brora Rangers		2–1	6–0	1–2	6–2	5–0	3–0	8–0	2–0	2–0	2–2	6–0	7–0	3–3	5–0	4–3	2–1	2–0
Buckie Thistle	5–0		4–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	3–0	4–2	1–1	7–0	3–1	6–0	6–0	2–1	3–0	9–0	4–0	1–0
Clachnacuddin	0–5	1–5		2–2	2–1	0–2	2–4	2–2	3–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	0–0	0–0
Cove Rangers	2–1	2–3	3–2		2–0	5–1	3–2	7–0	2–2	6–0	3–0	3–0	5–0	2–1	5–0	4–0	0–0	6–0
Deveronvale	1–2	2–9	5–1	0–2		2–3	0–2	4–2	1–2	0–2	0–3	3–2	0–0	2–2	5–0	7–2	0–1	0–2
Formartine United	1–4	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0		2–2	4–2	4–0	8–0	2–1	5–2	1–0	2–0	6–1	2–1	3–2	0–3
Forres Mechanics	1–2	3–2	2–2	0–3	2–1	0–0		4–0	0–2	2–1	1–1	4–1	4–2	7–1	1–1	2–0	1–4	3–5
Fort William	1–5	2–5	0–5	2–6	1–2	1–1	2–6		0–3	2–5	1–4	2–3	1–4	1–2	3–5	4–1	3–2	3–8
Fraserburgh	2–0	2–5	3–3	2–2	3–0	0–1	2–3	3–2		2–0	1–0	1–3	0–4	3–3	2–1	3–0	3–0	1–1
Huntly	1–6	1–0	0–2	0–8	5–2	3–3	0–3	5–1	2–4		2–1	2–1	0–0	4–6	2–1	2–2	2–4	1–5
Inverurie Loco Works	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–3	2–0	1–2	4–3	3–0	1–5	2–1		3–3	2–2	1–0	6–0	3–0	0–2	1–3
Keith	1–4	3–2	6–1	0–3	4–0	1–4	3–2	7–2	2–6	4–1	1–6		4–1	0–1	2–1	5–2	1–0	2–1
Lossiemouth	4–1	2–5	2–3	1–6	0–2	1–3	1–2	5–0	1–2	2–2	1–0	4–1		0–0	1–2	4–1	2–0	1–2
Nairn County	0–4	3–8	1–2	2–5	1–2	0–2	4–4	5–0	0–2	2–1	2–3	1–1	2–1		3–0	0–2	1–2	1–2
Rothes	0–6	1–6	2–2	0–1	2–1	1–5	0–5	2–1	0–5	2–2	2–2	4–2	0–2	0–2		4–2	1–4	0–9
Strathspey Thistle	0–5	2–9	1–4	1–1	0–3	1–6	1–3	0–1	0–7	0–2	1–7	0–4	1–2	2–2	0–1		0–2	0–3
Turriff United	0–1	2–2	4–2	1–1	2–1	1–2	3–4	4–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–0		1–0
Wick Academy	1–2	1–2	3–1	2–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	0–1	4–4	1–1	3–1	1–2	1–5	1–1	3–0	2–0

Updated to match(es) played on 22 April 2017. Source: highlandfootballleague.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-offs

Main article: 2016–17 Scottish League Two § League Two Play-offs

Buckie Thistle qualified for the Play-offs after a 9–0 win against Strathspey Thistle on 22 April 2017 secured them the Highland Football League title for the 11th time.

As Highland League champions, Buckie Thistle played East Kilbride, champions of the 2016–17 Lowland League, over two legs. Buckie Thistle drew the first leg at home 2–2 and lost 2–1 away, losing 3–4 on aggregate. Therefore, Buckie Thistle will remain in the Highland League for the 2017–18 season.