Spartans, Annan Athletic and Cove Rangers are all harbouring strong hopes of being voted into the Scottish Football League on Thursday.

The three clubs will be joined by Edinburgh City and Preston Athletic at Hampden seeking to persuade the 29 SFL clubs they are suitable candidates to fill the Third Division place left vacant by the demise of Gretna.

East of Scotland side Spartans, from Edinburgh, were originally thought to be favourites but they reportedly received poor marks for their facilities after a visit by an SFL delegation last week.

The Edinburgh club's new ground and academy will not be ready for the start of the season but chairman Craig Graham is confident the SFL clubs will take a long-term view.

He said: "We have talked to about 80 per cent of the SFL clubs and they are looking at the total picture.

"Their criteria is more than just facilities, they looked at things like our fan base and the work we do in the community.

"They have had a chance to speak to us and the feedback has been positive.

"We can't take anything for granted but we are looking forward to presenting our case."

Annan Athletic, also from the East of Scotland League, are ready to hit the ground running next season apart from a set of floodlights.

However, secretary Alan Irving does not feel that should be a problem.

"The spadework has all been done and the feeling at the club is that we have a real chance," he told PA Sport.

"We had the SFL delegation at the ground last week, we are in good shape and we hope that we have done enough to prove our case.

"Our only misgiving is our floodlights but we have spoken to the contractors and if we were to be admitted, we would have them in place for August.

"So we are optimistic and we think we would be a good addition to the SFL."

Cove Rangers chairman Keith Moorhouse is confident his club's location south of Aberdeen, and the travelling that would involve for many clubs, will not affect the vote.

"We are the most southerly of the Highland League clubs, in fact we are not even in the Highlands," he told PA Sport.

"We are two hours from the central belt and we have good motorway and rail links.

"If we were in Huntly, Wick or Banff we would take a different view but it is quicker to get to places like Ibrox from our ground than it is to get there from Aberdeen."

More news from SportingLife.com