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

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
30 August 1975	Clyde	A	2-1	McLean(2)	1,500
6 September 1975	Falkirk	H	1-4	Bourke	3,000
13 September 1975	Montrose	A	2-3	McLean(2)	1,100
20 September 1975	Partick Thistle	H	2-3	Wallace;Bourke	4,000
27 September 1975	East Fife	H	5-5	Graham;Cook;McLean;Wallace;Bourke	1,500
4 October 1975	Airdrie	A	0-3		2,500
11 October 1975	Morton	H	4-0	McAdam(2);Wallace;Bourke	3,000
18 October 1975	St Mirren	A	2-3	Bourke(2)	3,500
25 October 1975	Queen of the South	H	2-1	McAdam(2)	1,500
1 November 1975	Arbroath	A	5-1	Cook;McLean(2);Wallace;Bourke	1,682
8 November 1975	Dunfermline Athletic	H	2-0	Wallace;Bourke	2,000
15 November 1975	Hamilton	H	5-1	Brown,A;Muir(2);McLean;Bourke	2,000
22 November 1975	Kilmarnock	A	0-1		5,000
29 November 1975	East Fife	A	1-2	Brown,A	1,493
6 December 1975	Airdrie	H	0-0		1,500
13 December 1975	Morton	A	1-1	Cook	2,500
20 December 1975	St Mirren	H	2-0	Wallace;Bourke	3,000
27 December 1975	Queen of the South	A	2-4	McLean;Bourke	2,000
1 January 1976	Falkirk	A	2-3	Cook;Bourke	3,000
3 January 1976	Montrose	H	0-6		2,000
17 January 1976	Kilmarnock	H	3-0	Muir;Bourke(2)	3,500
31 January 1976	Partick Thistle	A	0-0		6,000
7 February 1976	Clyde	H	1-0	Bourke	2,000
21 February 1976	Arbroath	H	3-2	Muir;McLean;Wallace	2,500
28 February 1976	Dunfermline Athletic	A	3-0	Wallace;Bourke(2)	2,500
15 March 1976	Hamilton	A	3-2	Cook;Kane;Wallace	1,500

Scottish Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
24 January 1976	3	Keith	H	2-0	Wallace;Muir	2,500
14 February 1976	4	Partick Thistle	A	0-0		8,300
25 February 1976	4R	Partick Thistle	H	1-0	Wallace	8,000
6 March 1976	5	Kilmarnock	H	2-1	Muir;OG	7,796
3 April 1976	SF	Hearts	A	0-0		16,087
14 April 1976	SFR	Hearts	A	0-3		11,273

Scottish League Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
9 August 1975	P	Hearts	H	2-1	McLean;Bourke	4,000
13 August 1975	P	Aberdeen	A	0-2		6,000
16 August 1975	P	Celtic	A	1-3	McAdam	23,000
18 August 1975	P	Aberdeen	H	0-1		3,000
23 August 1975	P	Celtic	H	0-8		14,000
27 August 1975	P	Hearts	A	2-6	Cook;Brown,J	6,000

Spring Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
10 March 1976	P	Albion Rovers	H	4-1	Cook;Bourke(2);Muir
13 March 1976	P	Arbroath	A	1-0	Wallace	1,187
20 March 1976	P	Stenhousemuir	A	1-2	McKinley	489
27 March 1976	P	Arbroath	H	1-2	Wallace	1,500
7 April 1976	P	Albion Rovers	A	2-1	Wallace(2)
10 April 1976	P	Stenhousemuir	H	3-1	McLeod;Bourke(2)	1,500
17 April 1976	2(1)	Raith Rovers	A	2-2	Graham;Wallace	3,201
19 April 1976	2(2)	Raith Rovers	H	4-0	Wallace(2);Graham;Bourke	2,500
21 April 1976	3(1)	Falkirk	H	4-2	Harvey(2);Bourke;Graham	2,000
24 April 1976	3(2)	Falkirk	A	2-1	Bourke;Brown,A	2,000
28 April 1976	SF	Clydebank	A	1-3	Wallace	3,000

Stirlingshire Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
3 November 1975	1	Clydebank	H	1-1*	McAdam
11 November 1975	SF	Stenhousemuir	H	1-3	McCormack

* - won on penalties

Other Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
26 July 1975	Vale of Leven	H	2-0	Mathie(2)
28 July 1975	Queen's Park	A	0-2
30 July 1975	Preston NE	H	2-2	Wallace;McAdam
2 August 1975	Chester City	A	1-1	Bourke
4 August 1975	Tranmere Rovers	A	3-2	Bourke(2);Wallace
1 October 1975	Morton	H	5-3	Mullen;McCormack;Harvey;Bennett;OG
16 March 1976	Rangers XI	H	1-3	Kane

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
Alan Bennett	MF	4(2)
John Bourke	FW	45	26
Ally Brown	FW	35(1)	3
Brian Brown	MF	0(4)
Jim Brown	DF	4(3)	1
Peter Coleman	FW	7(4)
Jim Cook	FW	44(4)	6
John Cushley	MF	8
Johnny Graham	MF	45(3)	4
Drew Harvey	FW	2(1)	2
George Kane	FW	1(1)	1
Ross Mathie	FW	1
Tom McAdam	FW	11(1)	5
Ian McGregor	GK	3
Columb McKinley	MF	41(1)	1
Hugh McLean	MF	37(5)	11
Murdo MacLeod	FW	6(7)	1
Donald McNeil	MF	17(5)
Jim Muir	MF	33	6
Terry Mullen	DF	19(5)
Denis Ruddy	MF	4(2)
Graeme Sinclair	MF	4
Walter Smith	MF	36
Ian Wallace	FW	44(1)	20
Don Watt	DF	48
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

• 1975–76 in Scottish football

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

• Scottish Football Historical Archive