Manager Jackie Stewart Scottish Cup Fourth Round | Scottish League Division 2 Champions Scottish League Cup Prelims | |
Top goalscorer League: Kenny Wilson (38)All: Kenny Wilson (43) | ||
Season 1971–72 was the 95th football season in which Dumbarton competed at a Scottish national level, entering the Scottish Football League for the 65th time, the Scottish Cup for the 77th time and the Scottish League Cup for the 25th time.
Contents
Overview
After fifty years of trying, Dumbarton at last gained promotion back to the top flight of Scottish League football, by winning the Division 2 title - their first national championship win in 60 years. It was however not all plain sailing, with just 3 points from the first 6 games, all was not looking good at the start of the campaign. However a single defeat in the next 14 games put Dumbarton back on track. However when the final game arrived against Berwick Rangers, only a win would secure the championship, while a draw would confirm promotion, with a defeat consigning Dumbarton to another season in the lower division. Fortunately all went well in front of a massive 9,000 home crowd - a 4-2 win being recorded and First Division football next season.
In the Scottish Cup, Dumbarton lost out to Raith Rovers in the fourth round.
The League Cup at the start of the season was, for some unknown reason, a complete disaster. After the previous season's success and a full squad to choose from, Dumbarton were unable to bring about a repeat, and with a single win and a draw from the six sectional games, there was to be no further interest in the competition.
The season commenced with a new sponsored competition - the Drybrough Cup - played for by the four top scoring sides from the two divisions in the previous season. Dumbarton lost out to Celtic in the first round.
Locally, in the Stirlingshire Cup, Dumbarton were knocked out in the first round by Alloa Athletic, on penalties after a drawn game.
Note that Dumbarton had scored 109 goals in all matches during the season, the 14th time that the 'century' had been broken
Results
All results are written with Dumbarton's score first.
Stirlingshire Cup
* - lost on pemalties
Appearances
Dumbarton used 26 players for the 45 League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and Drybrough Cup matches, as detailed below. Kenny Jenkins and Roy McCormack were to feature in every one of these matches.
Reserve Team
For the second season running, Dumbarton competed in the Combined Reserve League. Results were mixed and as with the previous season, reporting of results was scarce, nonetheless it is known that the league was never competed.