1975–76 Dumbarton F.C. season

Dumbarton
1975–1976 season
Manager Alex Wright
Stadium Boghead Park, Dumbarton
Scottish League Division 1 4th
Scottish Cup Semi Final
Scottish League Cup Prelims
Top goalscorer League: John Bourke (18)
All: John Bourke (26)
Highest home attendance 4000
Lowest home attendance 1500
Average home league attendance 2415
← 1974–75 1976–77 →

Season 1975–76 was the 99th football season in which Dumbarton competed at a Scottish national level, entering the Scottish Football League for the 69th time, the Scottish Cup for the 81st time and the Scottish League Cup for the 29th time.

Overview

Following league reconstruction, Dumbarton started off in the new Division 1 (second tier) of Scottish league football with a real expectation that promotion to the Premier League could be achieved. However a poor start which saw only one win taken from the first 6 games was to handicap Dumbarton's ambitions, and it was only an unbeaten run of 6 games at the end of the season which saw a climb up to a respectable 4th place.

It was however in the Scottish Cup were Dumbarton were to shine and after a third round win over Highland League opposition, Dumbarton were to dispose of both the clubs who were to finish in the promotion places in Division 1 on their way to their first semi final in almost 80 years. Hearts were the opposition and after a hard fought draw, they were to find the Premier League side too good in the replay.

In the League Cup, Dumbarton were handed the toughest of qualifying groups, being up against 3 of the top Premier League sides, and it was no real surprise that there would be no further interest in this competition although a home win over Hearts was well received.

Due to the reduction in the number of league games, a new competition was instituted for Division 1 and 2 clubs, named the Spring Cup. Dumbarton qualified from their group with 4 wins from 6 games, and saw off Raith Rovers and Falkirk on their way to another cup semi final. It was however to be their local rivals Clydebank who would go on to the final following a 3-1 defeat.

Locally, in the Stirlingshire Cup, Dumbarton beat Clydebank on penalties in the first round before surprisingly losing out to Stenhousemuir in the semi final.

Finally, Dumbarton broke both the goals for and goals against 'centuries' during the season. By scoring 106 goals in all games, this was the 14th time that the 'century - for' had been broken, and by conceding 103, this was the 20th time that the 'century - against' had been broken.

Results

Win
Draw
Loss

All results are written with Dumbarton's score first.

Scottish League

DateOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendance
30 August 1975ClydeA2-1McLean(2)1,500
6 September 1975FalkirkH1-4Bourke3,000
13 September 1975MontroseA2-3McLean(2)1,100
20 September 1975Partick ThistleH2-3Wallace;Bourke4,000
27 September 1975East FifeH5-5Graham;Cook;McLean;Wallace;Bourke1,500
4 October 1975AirdrieA0-32,500
11 October 1975MortonH4-0McAdam(2);Wallace;Bourke3,000
18 October 1975St MirrenA2-3Bourke(2)3,500
25 October 1975Queen of the SouthH2-1McAdam(2)1,500
1 November 1975ArbroathA5-1Cook;McLean(2);Wallace;Bourke1,682
8 November 1975Dunfermline AthleticH2-0Wallace;Bourke2,000
15 November 1975HamiltonH5-1Brown,A;Muir(2);McLean;Bourke2,000
22 November 1975KilmarnockA0-15,000
29 November 1975East FifeA1-2Brown,A1,493
6 December 1975AirdrieH0-01,500
13 December 1975MortonA1-1Cook2,500
20 December 1975St MirrenH2-0Wallace;Bourke3,000
27 December 1975Queen of the SouthA2-4McLean;Bourke2,000
1 January 1976FalkirkA2-3Cook;Bourke3,000
3 January 1976MontroseH0-62,000
17 January 1976KilmarnockH3-0Muir;Bourke(2)3,500
31 January 1976Partick ThistleA0-06,000
7 February 1976ClydeH1-0Bourke2,000
21 February 1976ArbroathH3-2Muir;McLean;Wallace2,500
28 February 1976Dunfermline AthleticA3-0Wallace;Bourke(2)2,500
15 March 1976HamiltonA3-2Cook;Kane;Wallace1,500

Scottish Cup

DateRdOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendance
24 January 19763KeithH2-0Wallace;Muir2,500
14 February 19764Partick ThistleA0-08,300
25 February 19764RPartick ThistleH1-0Wallace8,000
6 March 19765KilmarnockH2-1Muir;OG7,796
3 April 1976SFHeartsA0-016,087
14 April 1976SFRHeartsA0-311,273

Scottish League Cup

DateRdOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendance
9 August 1975PHeartsH2-1McLean;Bourke4,000
13 August 1975PAberdeenA0-26,000
16 August 1975PCelticA1-3McAdam23,000
18 August 1975PAberdeenH0-13,000
23 August 1975PCelticH0-814,000
27 August 1975PHeartsA2-6Cook;Brown,J6,000

Spring Cup

DateRdOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendance
10 March 1976PAlbion RoversH4-1Cook;Bourke(2);Muir
13 March 1976PArbroathA1-0Wallace1,187
20 March 1976PStenhousemuirA1-2McKinley489
27 March 1976PArbroathH1-2Wallace1,500
7 April 1976PAlbion RoversA2-1Wallace(2)
10 April 1976PStenhousemuirH3-1McLeod;Bourke(2)1,500
17 April 19762(1)Raith RoversA2-2Graham;Wallace3,201
19 April 19762(2)Raith RoversH4-0Wallace(2);Graham;Bourke2,500
21 April 19763(1)FalkirkH4-2Harvey(2);Bourke;Graham2,000
24 April 19763(2)FalkirkA2-1Bourke;Brown,A2,000
28 April 1976SFClydebankA1-3Wallace3,000

Stirlingshire Cup

DateRdOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendance
3 November 19751ClydebankH1-1*McAdam
11 November 1975SFStenhousemuirH1-3McCormack

* - won on penalties

Other Matches

DateOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendance
26 July 1975Vale of LevenH2-0Mathie(2)
28 July 1975Queen's ParkA0-2
30 July 1975EnglandPreston NEH2-2Wallace;McAdam
2 August 1975EnglandChester CityA1-1Bourke
4 August 1975EnglandTranmere RoversA3-2Bourke(2);Wallace
1 October 1975MortonH5-3Mullen;McCormack;Harvey;Bennett;OG
16 March 1976Rangers XIH1-3Kane

Appearances

Dumbarton used 26 players for the 49 League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and Spring Cup matches, as detailed below. Don Watt was best by being the only player to start in every one of these matches, but one.[1]

Player Position Appearances[2] Goals
Scotland Alan Bennett MF 4(2)
Scotland John Bourke FW 4526
Scotland Ally Brown FW 35(1)3
Scotland Brian Brown MF 0(4)
Scotland Jim Brown DF 4(3)1
Scotland Peter Coleman FW 7(4)
Scotland Jim Cook FW 44(4)6
Scotland John Cushley MF 8
Scotland Johnny Graham MF 45(3)4
Scotland Drew Harvey FW 2(1)2
Scotland George Kane FW 1(1)1
Scotland Ross Mathie FW 1
Scotland Tom McAdam FW 11(1)5
Scotland Ian McGregor GK 3
Scotland Columb McKinley MF 41(1)1
Scotland Hugh McLean MF 37(5)11
Scotland Murdo MacLeod FW 6(7)1
Scotland Donald McNeil MF 17(5)
Scotland Jim Muir MF 336
Scotland Terry Mullen DF 19(5)
Scotland Denis Ruddy MF 4(2)
Scotland Graeme Sinclair MF 4
Scotland Walter Smith MF 36
Scotland Ian Wallace FW 44(1)20
Scotland Don Watt DF 48
Scotland Laurie Williams GK 46

Reserve Team

Dumbarton competed in the Combined Reserve League and in the Combined Reserve League Cup. Reports of these games are sparse although it is known that Partick Thistle were league champions.

In the Scottish Second XI Cup, Dumbarton lost to Partick Thistle in the third round.

In the Scottish Reserve League Cup, Dumbarton failed to qualifying from their section.

See also

References

  1. ↑ McAllister, Jim (2002). The Sons of the Rock - The Official History of Dumbarton Football Club. Dumbarton: J&J Robertson Printers.
  2. ↑ Substitute appearances in brackets.

External links

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