Scottish Cup Fifth Round | Scottish League Division 1 4th Scottish League Cup First Round | |
Top goalscorer League: Derek Whiteford/ Jocky Whiteford (15)All: Jocky Whiteford (17) | ||
Season 1977–78 was the 101st football season in which Dumbarton competed at a Scottish national level, entering the Scottish Football League for the 71st time, the Scottish Cup for the 83rd time and the Scottish League Cup for the 31st time.
Contents
Overview
Dumbarton played league football in Division 1 for the third year running. Davie Wilson's first season as manager began well, and while always up with the leading pack, it was to be the case that too many draws rather than wins would prevent a serious challenge on the title. Nevertheless, a 4th-place finish was a creditable result.
In the Scottish Cup, Hearts were once again the opponents, but it was Dumbarton who were to progress this time after a drawn game. In the quarter final, however Partick Thistle were to prove too good on the day.
In the League Cup, qualifying groups were dispensed with and replaced with straight knock-out ties on a home-and-away basis. It was however to prove a bit of an embarrassment when in the first round, a 4-1 home win against Hamilton was followed by a 6-0 away drubbing.
Locally, in the Stirlingshire Cup, Dumbarton were defeated by local rivals Clydebank in the semi final.
Results
All results are written with Dumbarton's score first.
Club
Dumbarton used 21 players for the 46 League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup matches, as detailed below. Murdo MacLeod and Derek Whiteford were best by being the only players to start in every one of these matches.
International
Murdo MacLeod and Graeme Sinclair were selected to play for the Scottish League in a match against an Italian League XI in Verona, which resulted in a 1-1 draw.
In addition Ally MacLeod was part of the Scottish Youth (under 19) side which competed in the UEFA Youth Championships. He played in all seven matches, against Denmark (1-0 and 2-0), West Germany (1-0), Portugal (1-0), Italy (0-0), Yugoslavia (2-2) and Poland (1-3) - Scotland finished in 4th place.
Reserve Team
Dumbarton competed in the Scottish Reserve League First Division and finished 8th of 11.
In the Scottish Second XI Cup, Dumbarton lost to Ayr United in the first round, and in the Reserve League Cup, Dumbarton lost to Rangers, on aggregate, in the first round.