My early football memories in Lanarkshire – Part Two 1976-1980
1976/77
The League Cup saw Motherwell finish bottom of their group with no wins from their six group games and only two draws.
Hamilton Accies set up a final day showdown with Falkirk at Douglas Park for a place in the Quarter Final. Around 4000 packed Douglas Park and their was my first football heartbreak by Falkirk as they raced into an early two goal lead and although Accies pulled a goal back just before half time , they never looked likely to gain the win required, losing 2-1.
Airdrie having won their first five games won their group before a final game loss at Queens Park.
Albion Rovers won Group 9 , the group for the worst six teams would play each season and only play each other once. The winners then played a playoff against one of the eight group winners for a Quarter Final place.
Once again Albion Rovers made headlines when drawn against local rivals Airdrie. Airdrie won the first leg at Broomfield by a narrow 3-2 margin before the second leg at Cliftonhill where 3000 fans plus many on the hill outside saw John Brogan score a hat trick to take Albion Rovers through to a Quarter Final against Celtic with a 3-1 win , the aggregate score being 5-4.
Albion Rovers lost 1-0 at home and 5-0 , however the headlines were made by Clydebank who drew with Rangers 3-3 at Ibrox and 1-1 at Kilbowie , which led to two replays , the first 0-0 at Ibrox before Rangers won the 2nd replay at Kilbowie 2-1. The Clydebank team who were inspired by Hamilton lad Davie Cooper.
The Scottish Cup saw more heroics from Albion Rovers beating Raith Rovers and East Stirling to reach the 4th Round before losing 2-1 to East Fife.
Hamilton Accies following a 0-0 home draw lost 3-0 at Clydebank and Airdrie who had a creditable 1-1 draw at home to Celtic lost the replay 5-0.
Motherwell having beaten Kilmarnock 3-0 at home then took on First Division leaders St Mirren who under manager Alex Ferguson had beaten Dundee Utd 4-1 in the 3rd round. An incredible crowd of 26, 709 with others locked out including me.
The game is remembered for the physical approach of Motherwell and they won the game 2-1 before losing in the Quarter Final to Rangers at Ibrox 2-0.
Motherwell had started the league season with notable wins over Rangers 3-1 and Kilmarnock 5-4 before finishing 7th in Premier League
The First Division was won by St Mirren who were promoted alongside Clydebank who they famously played on Christmas Day 1976 , the last time a top class UK first was played on 25th December.
Airdrie were 6th and Hamilton Accies 10th , with Accies best performance seeing them beat Clydebank 3-2 with young Bobby McKell in goal for the injured Rikki Ferguson, although almost squandered their 3-0 half time lead.
Albion Rovers finished 6th in the Second Division.
1977/78
In the summer of 1977 Hamilton Accies signed former Liverpool striker Bobby Graham from Motherwell, breaking up his partnership with Willie Pettigrew.
The League Cup dispensed with groups and moved to a new two legged knock out format with 6 first round ties drawn to whittle it down to 32 teams in the second round.
Airdrie and Albion Rovers were unlucky to be drawn in the first round and lost on aggregate to Aberdeen 5-1 and Dundee Utd 10-1 respectively.
Motherwell despite a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park lost at home 4- 2 in the second leg.
Hamilton Accies despite a 4-1 defeat at Dumbarton won the second leg at home 6-0 to progress to the Third Round.
Accies lost 2-0 at home to St Mirren and despite a 2-1 win in Paisley exited the competition 3-2 on aggregate.
The Scottish Cup saw Albion Rovers beat Buckie Thistle boring losing to Morton in the Third Round where Hamilton Accies lost 4-1 at home to Dundee Utd and Airdrie lost 3-2 at home to Hearts
Motherwell having won 4-0 at Arbroath were shocked losing at home in the Fourth Round 3-1 at home by Queens Park.
Motherwell 6th place in Premier League along , Hamilton Accies 7th and Airdrie 10th in the First Division were matched by Albion Rovers 8th place in the Second Division , as all four clubs earned mid table finishes.
1978/79
The season began under a cloud after Scotland’s poor campaign in Argentina
Albion Rovers began their League Cup campaign with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to holders Rangers in the First Round
The second round saw Airdrie stroll past Dunfermline 8-0 on aggregate, while Hamilton Accies turned round a 3-2 away defeat to Cowdenbeath with a 2-0 home win to get to Round 3. Motherwell shocked in a 3-1 defeat to Clyde again turned the tie in their favour with a 3-0 home win.
Hamilton Accies lost 1-0 at home to Aberdeen and despite equalising on aggregate with an early Jamie Fairlie penalty at Pittodrie they lost the second leg 7-1.
Airdrie and Motherwell also exited at this stage , Airdrie having drawn 1-1 at Arbroath , lost 2-1 at home. Motherwell with the shock of the tournament won 1-0 at Celtic with Willie Pettigrew scoring , but lost the home leg 4-1.
The Scottish Cup saw Albion Rovers lose in a replay in the First Round 3-2 at home to Dunfermline after a 2-2 at East End Park.
Hamilton Accies Douglas Park was packed with 10,000 fans and the BBC TV cameras as they lost 2-0 to Aberdeen while Rangers beat Motherwell 3-1 at Ibrox in Round 3.
Airdrie had revenge for their League Cup defeat beating Arbroath 1-0 at Gayfield, before losing to Partick Thistle 3-0 at Firhill in Round 4.
In the Premier League Motherwell had a desperate season and finished bottom of the table and were relegated alongside Hearts.
There were midtable finishes for the other Lanarkshire teams with Hamilton 5th and Airdrie 6th in the First Division and Albion Rovers 7th in the Second Division.
Accies 3-1 win over Ayr was featured on BBC TV the week after the Aberdeen game due to the weather wiping out most of Scottish Football
1979/80
Willie Pettigrew left Motherwell for Dundee Utd
Albion Rovers started off the League Cup with a 5-2 First Round win over East Stirling but despite a 2-2 draw away to Partick they lost they second leg 1-0 at home. Airdrie began with a 2-1 win over Dundee Utd but were also eliminated following a 2-0 defeat at Tannadice. Motherwell suffered an embarrassing 4-1 home defeat to Queens Park and despite a 2-0 away win all fell in the Second Round.
Lanarkshire was to see an amazing run by Hamilton Accies and although a slow start with a 0-0 draw at Clydebank , Accies scored early in the return leg at Douglas Park where they wore a one off dark blue kit to secure a 1-0 victory.
The Third Round saw another visit from St Mirren and again a two goal defaet with the Paisley side winning 3-1.
However an incredible night at Love Street saw Accies win 2-0 despite two players being stretchered off and playing extra time and with the aggregate score 3-3 , the games went to penalties.
Accies keeper Rikki Ferguson saved the first two St Mirren penalties and Accies progressed to the Quarter Final 4-2 on penalties.
The Quarter Final saw Accies defeat Premier League Dundee 3-1 in the first leg before a controversial second leg at Dens Park , where the Dark Blues had two goals disallowed for offside before a late Billy Pirie goal meant a tense last few minutes before Accies secured a place in a major cup semi final for the only time since 1961 with a 3-2 aggregate win.
The semi final draw Accies draw the up coming team in Scottish Football Dundee Utd managed by former Accies star Jim McLean.
On a wet and wild day on a muddy pitch at East End Park Dunfermline , Accies struggled against the full time team and especially Paul Sturrock and lost 6-2 although the two late goals put a gloss on the Tayside club’s victory.
The game was televised in highlight form by BBC but due to an engineers strike there was no sound from the ground.
Hamilton Accies League Cup run brought national headlines and they were once again in the headlines , this time for the wrong reasons in the Scottish Cup a few months later losing 3-2 at home to Highland League Keith , famous at the first club of Scotland captain Colin Hendry. Accies were fortune that two late goals made the scoreline less embarrassing as they were 3-0 down late in the game.
Motherwell were also victims of a cup shock losing at Dumfries to Queen of the South in Round 3 , Albion Rovers having lost in Round 1 at Cowdenbeath 3-0 meant the only Lanarkshire team to ain a game in the Scottish Cup in 1979-80 were Airdrie.
Airdrie’s 3-1 home win over St Johnstone gave a short term boost however they travelled to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen , they were thumped 8-0 by a team from the Granite City who were building a special team under Alex Ferguson and would go on to win the Premier League.
The First Division in 1979-80 saw Airdrie , Hamilton Accies and Motherwell all in the same division and there were therefore 9 Lanarkshire derbies.
In the opening weeks of the season Airdrie travelled to Hamilton and showed their promotion credentials racing into a 3-1 half time lead before an amazing second half comeback saw Accies substitute Neil Howie score a dramatic late winner as Accies won 4-3.
Less then 3 weeks later Motherwell travelled to Douglas Park unveiling new signing Brian McLaughlin from Ayr who scored as Motherwell led 2-0 at half time. This Accies team was made of stern stuff and once again produced a stirring second half comeback with summer signing Denis McQuade netting a late winner , as Accies ran out 3-2 victors
Airdrie moved to the top of the league in November following two home wins over their Lanarkshire rivals , Motherwell 4-0 and Hamilton Accies 1-0, as Motherwell struggled near the bottom with Accies in mid table.
Motherwell beat Airdrie 2-1 at Fir Park before Christmas and then in March beat Accies at home twice 2-1 and 4-0.
Airdrie went from strength to strength beating both Lanarkshire neighbours 3-1 at Broomfield in the closing weeks of the season to gain promotion to the Premier League in second place behind Hearts with Motherwell 6th and Hamilton 7th.
Albion Rovers finished in creditable 4th place as the Second Division ended and the 1970s moved into the 1980s.
Football is Academical 