1897–98 Dumbarton F.C. season

Dumbarton

1897–98 season
Stadium	Boghead Park, Dumbarton
Scottish Cup	First Round
Home colours
← 1896–97 1898–99 →

The 1897–98 season was the 25th Scottish football season in which Dumbarton competed at national level entering the Scottish Cup. In addition Dumbarton played in the Dumbartonshire Cup.

Dumbarton were knocked out in the first round by St Bernards, after a 1–1 draw.

St Bernard's v Dumbarton

8 January 1898 Cup R1	St Bernard's	1–1[1][2]	Dumbarton	New Logie Green
	Chambers		Murphy	Attendance: 3,500

Dumbarton v St Bernard's

15 January 1898 Cup R1r	Dumbarton	1–3[3][4]	St Bernard's	Boghead Park
	Gillies		Buchanan Paton	Attendance: 6,000

Dumbarton won the Dumbartonshire Cup for the ninth time, beating Vale of Leven in the final.

Dumbarton v Vale of Leven

26 March 1898 Final	Dumbarton	3–2	Vale of Leven	Tontine Park
	Speedie Littlejohn			Attendance: 3,000

In the absence of any league commitments, the Dumbarton committee had to work hard to bring together a fixture list which would meet the club's financial needs.

During the season, 23 'friendly' matches were arranged, where there was much to be pleased about. There was an impressive unbeaten run of 9 games at the beginning of the season, several wins against league opposition and a successful 'mini' tour of the highlands during the New Year holidays. In all 13 were won, 4 drawn and 6 lost, scoring 69 goals and conceding 49.

Renton v Dumbarton

2 September 1897 Friendly	Renton	0–2	Dumbarton	Tontine Park
			Reid Mackie

Stenhousemuir v Dumbarton

4 September 1897 Friendly	Stenhousemuir	4–4	Dumbarton	Ochilview Park

Queen's Park v Dumbarton

11 September 1897 Friendly	Queen's Park	2–4	Dumbarton	Hampden Park
	Berry 40' Lambie		McFarlane 30', 45' Speedie Ritchie (OG)

Dumbarton v Vale of Leven

18 September 1897 Friendly	Dumbarton	6–1	Vale of Leven	Boghead Park
	Morrice Richmond

Leith Athletic v Dumbarton

2 October 1897 Friendly	Leith Athletic	2–2	Dumbarton	Hawkhill
	Brown Harvie 85'		Speedie Mackie

Falkirk v Dumbarton

9 October 1897 Friendly	Falkirk	1–2	Dumbarton	Brockville Park
	Forbes 85'		Morrice 7' Reid 8'

Abercorn v Dumbarton

16 October 1897 Friendly	Abercorn	2–2	Dumbarton	Underwood Park, Paisley
			Speedie Murphy

Queen's Park v Dumbarton

23 October 1897 Friendly	Queen's Park	1–1	Dumbarton	Hampden Park
	Lambie		Mauchan

Dumbarton v Renton

30 October 1897 Friendly	Dumbarton	2–1	Renton	Boghead Park

Dumbarton v St Mirren

13 November 1897 Friendly	Dumbarton	0–1	St Mirren	Boghead Park
			Brown 40'

Morton v Dumbarton

20 November 1897 Friendly	Morton	1–2	Dumbarton	Cappielow Park
	Dunlop Kennedy		scrimmage

Vale of Leven v Dumbarton

27 November 1897 Friendly	Vale of Leven	1–3	Dumbarton	Millburn Park
			Watt Forrest Thomson

Clyde v Dumbarton

18 December 1897 Friendly	Clyde	5–4	Dumbarton	Barrowfield Park
			Reid

Dumbarton v Kilmarnock

25 December 1897 Friendly	Dumbarton	2–9	Kilmarnock	Boghead Park

Inverness Clachnacuddin v Dumbarton

1 January 1898 Friendly	Inverness Clachnacuddin	4–10	Dumbarton	Inverness
				Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Mr Colville

Aberdeen v Dumbarton

3 January 1898 Friendly	Aberdeen	0–2	Dumbarton	Central Park, Aberdeen
			Ritchie (OG) (OG)	Referee: A Smith

Partick Thistle v Dumbarton

22 January 1898 Friendly	Partick Thistle	1–3	Dumbarton	Meadowside
			McNab Littlejohn	Attendance: 1,500

Dumbarton v Celtic

5 February 1898 Friendly	Dumbarton	2–3	Celtic	Boghead Park
	Mitchell Richmond		Allan

E Stirling v Dumbarton

19 February 1898 Friendly	E Stirling	1–4	Dumbarton	Merchiston Park
	Hastings 80' (OG)		McNab Speedie 20' Littlejohn 65'	Referee: Mr Sharp

Dumbarton v Kilmarnock Athletic

5 March 1898 Friendly	Dumbarton	9–1	Kilmarnock Athletic	Boghead Park

Dumbarton v Morton

19 March 1898 Friendly	Dumbarton	2–1	Morton	Boghead Park
	Speedie		Edgar

St Bernard's v Dumbarton

11 April 1898 Friendly	St Bernard's	5–0	Dumbarton	New Logie Green
	Allan 1' Newman 2' Coltherd 10'			Attendance: 1,000

Dumbarton v Airdrie

16 April 1898 Friendly	Dumbarton	2–1	Airdrie	Boghead Park
	Littlejohn

Amongst those players leaving the club was internationalist Leitch Keir. A servant to the club since its cup winning season of 1882–83, Keir decided to move on to Motherwell.

Only includes appearances and goals in competitive Scottish Cup matches.

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
John Docherty[5]	GK	2	0
Samuel Skinner[6]	DF	2	0
Daniel Thomson[7]	DF	2	0
Morrice[8]	MF	2	0
James Richmond[9]	MF	2	0
William Thomson	MF	2	0
Daniel Coll[10]	MF	2	0
Alexander Gillies[11]	MF	2	1
Hugh Murphy[12]	MF	2	1
Thomas Reid[13]	MF	2	0
Willie Speedie[14]	MF	2	0

William Thomson^[15] earned his third and fourth caps against Wales and Ireland respectively in the 1898 British Home Championship.

A Dumbartonshire XI played against a Lanarkshire XI on 29 January 1898 in which Docherty, Daniel Thomson, William Thomson, Lewis Mackie and Speedie were all selected to play - Willie Speedie scored the Dumbarton county goal in the 1–1 draw.

Dumbarton lost in the first round of the Scottish Second XI Cup to Queen's Park.