The History of Newtongrange Star
1975/76
STORY OF THE SEASON
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    The challenge of following a successful season was to maintain a consistent level of performance. The Star were back in the A Division once again and looking to build on the previous season's triumphs.

    The season began with a new competition - the League Cup, a tournament that moved away from the traditional knockout format to a first round played on a mini-league basis with the group winners advancing to the quarter-final. The Star's inaugural participation was to be disappointing though as Arniston Rangers won the group ahead of the Star and Dalkeith Thistle.

    Having been relegated during the Star's previous participation in the A Division, a good start was essential. However, despite a good win over Penicuik Athletic, the Star found themselves towards the bottom of the table after a series of seven defeats.

    All was looking better as the Star progressed through the rounds of the Scottish Junior Cup though. There was a 5-1 win over RAF Lossiemouth in the first round with goals from Fairley, Murphy and a Jazzy Pryde hat-trick. Banks O'Dee were the opponents in the second round where doubles from Murphy and Fairley gave the Star a 4-2 win. The team that day was Hogg, Liddle, Russell, Carnegie, Cropley, Sproull, McLeod, Pryde, Wood, Murphy, Fairley. Subs: Neilson, Logan. In the third round, the Star met Tranent for the second consecutive season. Only one match was required this time though as the Star won 2-1. In the next round the Star met Shotts Bon Accord, a team they had also beaten the season before. This time though there was to be no repeat performance as the Lanarkshire side were to prove superior with a comprehensive 3-0 win.

    In the other cup competitions, the Star had an early exit in the Brown Cup, but reached the quarter-final of the Fife & Lothians Cup before falling 2-0 to Bathgate Thistle.

    The Star did put up a stern defence of their Dryborough Cup though, as wins over Grangemouth Rovers and Pumpherston led to a quarter-final meeting at Sauchie. Goals from George Neilson and Charlie Murphy gave the Star a 2-1 win. A solitary goal from George Dixon was all that was required to account for Bo'ness United in the semi-final before the Star met Linlithgow Rose in the final at Tynecastle. Despite a Neilson goal, the West Lothian side ran out comfortable 4-1 winners.

    As holders of the National Dryborough Cup, the Star did make another appearance in the end-of-season tournament, but lost heavily 4-1 at home to Lanark United.

    The Star did manage to pick up some good form in the remaining A Division matches, but there was a touch of deja vu to the end of the league campaign. During the Star's last appearance in the A Division two years before, the team had been relegated on goal difference and once again the Star gained 22 points from their 24 games, but crucially finished below Sauchie by a difference of 6 goals. The B Division beckoned once again.

    Source: The History of Newtongrange Star FC [2010]
WHITBREAD HOME 'A' DIVISION
Pld W D L F A GD Pts
Bonnyrigg Rose 24 15 5 4 50 29 +21 35
Arniston Rangers 24 15 4 5 48 28 +20 34
Broxburn Athletic 24 11 5 8 45 43 +2 27
Bathgate Thistle 24 12 3 9 33 34 -1 27
Bo'ness United 24 9 8 7 45 40 +5 26
Livingston United 24 9 6 9 47 50 -3 24
Penicuik Athletic 24 10 4 10 36 39 -3 24
Linlithgow Rose 24 9 5 10 40 32 +8 23
Sauchie Juniors 24 8 6 10 39 42 -3 22
Newtongrange Star 24 8 6 10 31 40 -9 22
Whitburn Juniors 24 8 5 11 37 41 -4 21
Dalkeith Thistle 24 4 7 13 28 45 -17 15
Fauldhouse United 24 3 6 15 23 38 -15 12
Relegated from 'A' Division: Newtongrange Star
Whitburn Juniors
Dalkeith Thistle
Fauldhouse United
Promoted to 'A' Division: Dunbar United
Polkemmet Juniors
Preston Athletic
Armadale Thistle
Opponents Venue F A Scorers Team Info
Arniston Rangers H 2 1 Davidson 2
A 1 4 Sproull
Bathgate Thistle H 0 3
A 0 2
Bo'ness United H 4 2 ?
A 0 1
Bonnyrigg Rose H 1 3 Neilson
A 1 1 ?
Broxburn Athletic H 2 2 Cropley 2
A 1 3 ?
Dalkeith Thistle H 2 1 ?
A 2 0 ?
Fauldhouse United H 1 0 Logan
A 1 0 ?
Linlithgow Rose H 0 1
A 1 1 ?
Livingston United H 2 4 ?
A 2 2 ?
Penicuik Athletic H 2 0 ?
A
Sauchie Juniors H 3 3 McLeod, Neilson, ?
A
Whitburn Juniors H 2 0 Dixon, Davidson
A 1 3 Hay
SCOTTISH JUNIOR CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 H RAF Lossiemouth 5 1 Pryde 3, Fairley, Murphy
2 A Banks O'Dee 4 2 Murphy 2, Fairley, Wood Hogg, Liddle, Russell, Carnegie, Cropley, Sproull, McLeod, Pryde, Wood, Murphy, Fairley. Subs: Neilson, Logan.
3 H Tranent Juniors 1 0 ?
4 A Shotts Bon Accord 0 3
FIFE & LOTHIANS CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 H Oakley United 4 0 Neilson 3, Murphy
2 A West Calder United 4 1 Wood, Neilson 2, Dixon
3 H Haddington Athletic 5 2 Davidson, Dixon, Wood, ?
QF A Bathgate Thistle 0 2
DRYBOROUGH CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 A Grangemouth Rovers 4 0 Wood, Neilson 3
2 A Pumpherston Juniors 3 1 Pryde 2, Wood
QF A Sauchie Juniors 2 1 Neilson, Murphy
SF H Bo'ness United 1 0 Dixon
F N Linlithgow Rose 1 4 Neilson
NATIONAL DRYBOROUGH CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
QF H Lanark United 1 4 ?
BROWN CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 A Bonnybridge Juniors 1 0 Fairley
2 A Linlithgow Rose 0 1
LEAGUE CUP
Pld W D L F A GD Pts
Arniston Rangers 4 2 2 0 6 2 +4 6
Newtongrange Star 4 1 3 0 5 4 +1 5
Dalkeith Thistle 4 0 1 3 4 9 -5 1
Opponents Venue F A Scorers Team Info
Arniston Rangers H 0 0
A 1 1 Neilson
Dalkeith Thistle H 1 1 ?
A 3 2 ?
SQUAD
  • Robert B Hogg
  • Kenneth Russell
  • George McGauley
  • Alan Liddle
  • Thomas Cropley
  • Edward Carnegie
  • Colin Wood
  • Allan McLeod
  • Charles Murphy
  • Alan Duthie
  • John Britton
  • Terence Christie
  • Matthew Sproull
  • Francis Lapinski
  • Iain Anderson
  • Iain Clark
  • George Neilson
COMMITTEE
Back: Douglas King, Bob Hay, Jim Watson, Sandy Hay, Les Porteous, Gregor Dorans.
Front: Lewis Morrison (Treasurer), John Quinn (President), Charlie Law (Secretary).