The History of Newtongrange Star
1950/51
MURRAY CUP, THORNTON SHIELD WINNERS & EDINBURGH & DISTRICT LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
Back: F. Patterson, H. Warner, W. Weston, R. Bryson, S. Slater, F. Watson, J. Forb, T. Lunn.
Centre: A. Bowman, W. Young (Trainer), C. Elms, W. Ferguson, A. Johnstone, A. Skinner, R. Kinghorn, A. Purves, C. Martin.
Front: J. Kirkwood, L. Morrison, A. Sharp, J. Ramage, J. Sneddon, J. Slater, W. Pryde, A. Hope, J. Neilson, J. Denholm (Trainer), H. McLaren, D. Pryde, J. Hadden.
STORY OF THE SEASON
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    For 'Auld Timers' 1950/1 was one of the best seasons in Star's long history. The Edinburgh and District League title was secured for the first time in 18 years. In the Mid/East division there was tremendous local excitement as a five-way struggle for the title involved Star, Easthouses Lily, Bonnyrigg Rose, Arniston Rangers and Loanhead Mayflower. In the end Star managed to see off their opponents thanks to a fine run in. But that was only the first part of the battle - they then had to face West Division Champions Camelon in the overall play off. The match was held at Broxburn and Star won 3-1 in front of a crowd of 3500. Charlie Elms was the hero of the day, playing most of the game with a bandage round his head following a collision. He scored one of the goals, with Kinghorn and Slater getting the others. Star's team towards the end of that season usually lined up along the lines of : Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Sneddon, Skinner, Purves, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater and Hope.

    The match at home to Fauldhouse in February 1951 saw Star record their then record win by eleven goals to two.

    Star also brought two of the local Cups back to Victoria Park. The Thornton Shield saw them cruise through the rounds beating Edinburgh City, Armadale Thistle and Bo'ness United without conceding a goal. They kept that record intact with a 3-0 win over Thorntree United (from Port Seton) in the Final down at Dalkeith. The Murray Cup was also won with a memorable 4-3 win over Easthouses Lily in the Final in a match played at Murray Park in Easthouses.

    In the other Cups there were mixed fortunes. Star put together a reasonable Scottish Junior Cup run. First Round opponents Polkemmet United held Star to a 1-1 draw at Greenrigg, but succumbed 9-0 in the Replay. Bobby Kinghorn hit four of the goals that day. Incredibly, it was a similar story against Lochgelly Albert in Round Two - a two each draw in Fife, followed by a 9-0 replay win. This time Kinghorn was restricted to a hat trick with Slater, Elms and Hope each getting doubles. Star then went up the road to Arniston to win 4-1 in Round Three, before losing 7-4 to Annbank in the Fourth Round. A crowd of 2500 watched the match at Victoria Park and everything seemed to be going to plan as Star led 4-2 with 15 minutes left to play. But the Ayrshire visitors completed a devastating comeback in front of the disbelieving Star faithful.

    In the East of Scotland Cup Star fell at the first hurdle losing 2-1 at home to Broxburn Athletic. An early injury to Ferguson meant that Star had to play with ten men for most of the match.

    Former President of the club Alex Duncan died in June 1951 and a minute's silence was observed in his memory prior to the Murray Cup Semi Final at home to Dalkeith Thistle.

    Source: Newtongrange Star FC match programme [27-Aug-2008]
EDINBURGH & DISTRICT LEAGUE MID/EAST DIVISION
Pld W D L F A Pts
Newtongrange Star 25 18 5 2 105 42 41
Easthouses Lily 27 17 3 7 70 45 37
Bonnyrigg Rose 26 16 3 7 63 43 35
Loanhead Mayflower 26 15 5 6 69 45 35
Arniston Rangers 26 16 2 8 78 46 34
Tranent Juniors 25 13 8 4 73 49 34
Ormiston Primrose 28 14 4 10 71 63 32
Preston Athletic 28 12 2 14 62 61 26
Dunbar United 26 10 4 12 74 83 24
Dalkeith Thistle 27 8 4 15 68 87 20
Edinburgh City 26 6 7 13 36 59 19
Musselburgh Athletic 27 6 6 15 52 82 18
Thorntree United 21 5 5 11 40 51 15
Rosewell Rosedale 26 5 3 18 46 95 13
Haddington Athletic 28 5 3 20 43 98 13
Opponents Venue F A Scorers Team Info
Arniston Rangers H
A
Bonnyrigg Rose H 2 1 Kinghorn, Verth
A
Dalkeith Thistle H 3 2 Slater, Linton, Kinghorn
A 6 0 Kinghorn 4, Hope 2
Dunbar United H
A 6 1
Easthouses Lily H 2 2 Slater, Linton
A 1 2 Dixon
Edinburgh City H 3 3 Dixon, Elms, Kinghorn
A D D
Haddington Athletic H 3 1 ?
A 7 1 ?
Loanhead Mayflower H 4 5 Kinghorn 2, Sneddon 2
A 2 2 Ford, Slater
Musselburgh Athletic H 1 1 Kinghorn
A
Ormiston Primrose H 3 1 ?
A
Preston Athletic H
A 3 2 Kinghorn, Elms, Hope
Rosewell Rosedale H
A 5 1 Kinghorn 5
Thorntree United H
A 6 3 Slater, ? Ross, Pryde, Veitch, Skinner, Lennie, Linton, Elms, Slater, Sneddon, Purves, Hope.
Tranent Juniors H
A 3 1 Slater, Kinghorn, Linton
EDINBURGH & DISTRICT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFF
Mid/East Division winners v West Division winners
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Crowd
F N Camelon Juniors 3 1 Elms, Slater, Kinghorn Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Purves, Skinner, Adams, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope. 3500
SCOTTISH JUNIOR CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Crowd
1 A Polkemmet Juniors 2 2 Dixon 2 McKay, Pryde, Ferguson, Verth, Skinner, Purves, Dixon, Elms, Kinghorn, Sneddon, Slater.
H Polkemmet Juniors 9 1 Kinghorn 4, Sneddon, Dixon, Elms, Slater McKay, Pryde, Ferguson, Verth, Skinner, Purves, Dixon, Elms, Kinghorn, Sneddon, Slater.
2 A Lochgelly Albert 2 2 Slater, Hope
H Lochgelly Albert 9 0 Kinghorn 3, Elms 2, Slater 2, Hope 2
3 A Arniston Rangers 4 1 Slater, Hope 2, Elms Johnstone, W. Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Purves, Linton, Elms, Slater, Sneddon, Hope. 5500
4 A Annbank United 4 7 Purves, Elms, Slater, Kinghorn (Note: Star were leading 4-2 with only 15 minutes to play.) 2500
THORNTON SHIELD
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 H Edinburgh City 2 0 Slater 2
2 H Armadale Thistle 4 0 Sneddon, Hope, Purves, OG Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Purves, Linton, Elms, Slater, Sneddon, Hope.
QF H Camelon Juniors 3 2 Hope, Kinghorn, Slater
SF N Bo'ness United 3 0 Slater, Kinghorn, Elms Johnstone, W. Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Sneddon, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope.
F N Thorntree United 3 0 Hope, Slater, Elms Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Purves, Skinner, Asher, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope.
EAST OF SCOTLAND CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 H Broxburn Athletic 1 2 Kinghorn McKay, Pryde, Ferguson, Verth, Skinner, Purves, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope.
ST MICHAELS CUP
Pld W D L F A Pts
Newtongrange Star 12 8 3 1 45 16 19
Loanhead Mayflower 11 7 1 3 29 24 15
Armadale Thistle 11 6 1 4 42 23 13
Camelon Juniors 11 6 1 4 30 28 13
Bonnyrigg Rose 14 4 3 7 46 43 11
Edinburgh City 12 3 4 5 27 46 10
Fauldhouse United 13 3 2 8 29 48 8
West Calder United 13 1 5 7 22 42 7
The group was won by Newtongrange Star
Opponents Venue F A Scorers Team Info
Armadale Thistle H 4 0 Slater 2, Kinghorn, Williams Reynolds, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Adams, Williams, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope.
A
Bonnyrigg Rose H 3 1 Kinghorn 2, Hope
A
Camelon Juniors H 2 3 ?
A 6 3 Hope 3, Slater 2, Sneddon
Edinburgh City H 4 0 Slater 2, Elms, Kinghorn
A 3 3 Elms, Pryde, Hope Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Adams, Newman, Elms, Slater, Sneddon, Hope.
Fauldhouse United H 11 2 Slater 4, Sneddon 2, Elms, Adams, Hope, Verth, OG Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Adams, Verth, Elms, Slater, Sneddon, Hope.
A 4 1 ? Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Adams, Johnstone, Elms, Slater, Sneddon, Hope.
Loanhead Mayflower H 3 0 Kinghorn, Slater, Elms
A 1 1 Elms
West Calder United H 1 1 W. Pryde Johnstone, W. Pryde, Purves, D. Pryde, Skinner, Adams, Verth, Slater, Kinghorn, Whitelaw, Hope.
A 3 1 Hope, Elms, Linton Johnstone, D. Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Purves, Adams, Linton, Elms, Duncan, Sneddon, Hope.
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
SF N Tranent Juniors 3 4 Purves, Kinghorn, Ferguson
BROWN CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 Bye
2 H Musselburgh Athletic D D
A Musselburgh Athletic 6 2 Hope 3, Slater, Sneddon, Hope Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Purves, Verth, Slater, Kinghorn, Sneddon, Hope.
QF H Haddington Athletic 6 0 Slater 3, Hope 2, OG
SF N Armadale Thistle 1 4 Kinghorn Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Dixon, Skinner, Purves, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope.
MURRAY CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
SF H Dalkeith Thistle 3 2 Linton, Dixon, Purves
F A Easthouses Lily 4 3 Slater 2, Hope, Kinghorn Johnstone, Pryde, Ferguson, Sneddon, Skinner, Purves, Linton, Elms, Kinghorn, Slater, Hope.