Revenge Gained and a Home Record Maintained (1968)

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Aberdeen, 2^nd March 2024)

On 2^nd March 1968, St. Mirren held a commanding position at the top of the Second Division, eleven points clear of Arbroath. On that day they were at home to third-placed East Fife, the only side to have taken full points from Saints thus far in the season courtesy of a 2-1 win at Methil in the previous November.

Saints had shown good form in February with two away wins against Cowdenbeath and Queens Park before having the week off due to the Scotland v England Home International. Meanwhile, the Methil men had been a shade unlucky to go out of the Cup ten days earlier at Cappielow, when they lost goalkeeper Billy McGann (later of St. Mirren) to injury in the early stages of the match. McGann's misfortune handed a debut to his deputy for the St. Mirren match - one Dave Gorman (not the comedian), who would go on to make 325 appearances with the Bayview team.

The St. Mirren programme was a twelve-page issue measuring 20cm by 13cm, printed black on white glossy paper and priced at 6d. The front cover, which remained constant throughout the season, featured a photo of Frank Treacy heading towards the Ipswich goal during a pre-season friendly at Love Street in 1966.

Above the main photo, the competition and opponents were given, but not the date. The inclusion of the full details of the NEXT home match underneath the photo often led to confusion amongst dealers and collectors alike who mistakenly read this as the match to which the programme referred.

Inside, Alex Wright's "Manager's View" discussed his side's form in the previous two fixtures and remarked on their good movement of the ball on a treacherous Hampden surface. He singled out Hugh McLaughlin for praise in his new midfield role and saw the recent signing of Hugh Gilshan from Johnston Burgh as a boost for the Club. He welcomed the visitors and backed them as a good prospect for promotion, largely due to the play of their Renfrewshire-born players Kinsella, Gilchrist and Rae.

Pages four and five provided statistics for the season to date, including appearances, goal scorers, fixtures and the current league table, which made satisfying viewing for the home support, as it showed Saints with the best scoring and defensive records, most games won and the solitary defeat.

The centre pages, as usual, were set out to provide the team line-ups however, on this occasion, the visiting eleven was left blank "To be selected before game". St. Mirren fielded the side as printed.

The "St. Mirren Pen Picture" was of the aforementioned Hugh McLaughlin and reiterated the improvement to his game since moving from striker to a role "in the thick of things". The Half-Time Score Board on the opposite page listed the other Scottish First and Second Division matches scheduled for that day.

Apart from a mention of the Gleniffer Development Association's weekly draw, the remainder of the programme consisted of adverts. As with many programmes from that season, it can be a difficult one to obtain nowadays.

A crowd of 4,132 and the players, wearing black armbands, held a minute's silence before the match for the recent passing of Provost Barbour of Paisley. Visiting 'keeper Gorman made a confident start and both sets of players seemed to relish the soft conditions as the pitch started to cut up.

Saints opened the scoring after 15 minutes. East Fife left back Henry McLeish (the future First Minister of Scotland) was dispossessed and the ball found its way across to Bobby Pinkerton. He cut it back for Willie Renton to fire a glorious volley which Gorman could only touch as it sped into the net.

The Methil men fought back and Walter Borthwick (another future Saint) was too slow to take advantage of slackness in the home defence. However, Saints had most of the play and a McLaughlin effort was deflected onto the crossbar before Gorman tipped the ball away for a corner. Doug Soutar then came to the visitors' rescue when he cleared a Pinkerton effort off the line with Gorman well beaten.

For the second match in succession the Fifers' custodian was injured but, in this case, Gorman was able to continue after treatment from the trainer.

The direction of attack continued in the home side's favour during the second half but it took until the 80^th minute for the points to be settled, Peter Kane finding the net with a well-placed header.

The 2-0 result extended Saints' lead at the top, where they would stay for the remainder of the season, with East Fife missing out on promotion in third place. In the final summary, both Saints and East Fife were the only sides to remain undefeated at home.