Edinburgh City enjoyed a successful first season in the Football League following their promotion from the Lowland League. The Citizens won back-to-back Lowland League titles before beating East Stirlingshire in a two-legged play-off final in May last year to earn promotion to League Two. Manager Gary Jardine remained loyal to the squad which won promotion with almost twenty players handed new deals last summer but they faced a baptism of fire and appeared to be completely out of their depth after picking up just four points from their first eleven league matches. They found themselves cut adrift at the bottom of the table but recorded a historic first win away at Montrose at the beginning of November with midfield stalwart Dougie Gair scoring the winner from the spot. They gained more confidence after knocking leaders Forfar Athletic out of the Scottish F.A. Cup and climbed off the bottom in early December, never to return. Jardine wasn’t afraid to make difficult decisions with the more experienced Andrew Stobie replacing summer signing Calum Antell between the sticks. Experienced midfielder Marc Laird was a crucial arrival in September and he was followed by midfielder Josh Walker in January and striker Derek Riordan in March. Striker Ross Allum, leading goalscorer in the Citizens’ previous two seasons, was allowed to join Spartans whilst striker Ross Guthrie made just eleven league starts. Striker Ouseman See made a real impact with seven goals before Christmas and was attracting interest before his season was ended by a knee injury. Dougie Gair finished as top goalscorer with nine goals and was voted player of the season. He will retire this summer after 13 years at the club and will take some replacing. Jardine’s team was built on a mean defence, which was only bettered by Champions Arbroath, but scored just 38 goals and will need more firepower if they are to avoid another relegation battle next season.
