FOR the first time in 26 years a championship flag will flutter over Cliftonhill this year.

It was an afternoon of celebration for Albion Rovers as they fought back from a 2-0 deficit against Barry Ferguson's Clyde, a victory that when put in tandem with the Queen's Park draw at Arbroath enabled them to claim the League Two title.

But as the players partied in the Broadwood sunshine there was a poignant note to proceedings too.

John Gemmell netted the equalising goal midway through the second period to cancel out Clyde's lead but his goal - and afternoon - was dedicated to the memory of Elsepth Reilly, the wife of club secretary Paul who died at the end of February after a short battle with cancer.

"It is very emotional for me and it is the best moment of my career," said Gemmell.

"I want to dedicate my goal to Elspeth because she was very close to me. That goal was for her because she was a great woman.

"It means so much. I will carry the medal everywhere with me - it means so much to me and I hope the younger lads appreciate it. I have been relegated from the Premier League, the First Division, the Second Division and I have never won a title."

Yet, had Albion Rovers not been alert to an administration blunder they could have put their weekend title in jeopardy. Speaking after their 3-2 win over Clyde that crowned them title winners with two games to spare, player-manager Darren Young revealed that had Mick Dunlop not flagged up the fact he was suspended for the meeting he could have played - and risked Albion forfeiting the points.

Dunlop was missed off the weekly list of suspensions issued by the SFA and it was the player and the manager themselves who spotted the error.

"We had to phone up ourselves about Michael's suspension," he said. "It came through as three bookings but we found out it was six so there is every chance that we would have played with Michael and then being fined and lost the points.

"It came through that he wasn't suspended - he wasn't on the list. Michael and I spoke about it, we checked up on it and he had been booked six times. Had we played him we would have been guilty of fielding an ineligible player.

"We had to chase it ourselves and that's ridiculous.

"But we'll enjoy this now. The chairman, Pat Gillooly, and his brother who have been at every game this season missed it because they were at a family wedding. He will be gutted but he has promised to take the whole squad away to Spain as a reward for winning the league so we'll enjoy that."