# 1977–78 Dundee F.C. season

The 1977–78 season was the 76th season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in the First Division for the second consecutive season. The club would again fail to achieve promotion, finishing in 3rd place for the second straight year. Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup, where they would be eliminated by Queen of the South in the 3rd round of the League Cup, and by Celtic in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup.

## Scottish First Division

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 13 August | Airdrieonians | H | 3–0 | Hutchinson, Pirie (pen.), Sinclair | 5,467 |
| 2 | 20 August | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–2 | Pirie | 11,761 |
| 3 | 27 August | Stirling Albion | H | 0–1 | | 5,082 |
| 4 | 10 September | St Johnstone | A | 2–1 | Sinclair, Pirie | 3,900 |
| 5 | 14 September | Alloa Athletic | A | 5–3 | Pirie (3), Sinclair, Redford | 1,200 |
| 6 | 17 September | Dumbarton | H | 2–1 | Sinclair | 4,725 |
| 7 | 24 September | Hamilton Academical | H | 1–1 | Williamson | 2,500 |
| 8 | 28 September | Queen of the South | A | 2–0 | Pirie, Williamson | 2,000 |
| 9 | 1 October | Kilmarnock | H | 2–1 | Williamson (2) | 4,700 |
| 10 | 8 October | Montrose | A | 2–1 | Williamson, Pirie | 2,000 |
| 11 | 15 October | East Fife | H | 2–1 | Pirie, MacKinnon | 5,000 |
| 12 | 19 October | Arbroath | H | 2–3 | Pirie (2) | 4,123 |
| 13 | 22 October | Airdrieonians | A | 0–3 | | 2,000 |
| 14 | 29 October | Heart of Midlothian | H | 1–1 | Williamson | 9,074 |
| 15 | 5 November | Stirling Albion | A | 2–0 | Simpson, Pirie | 2,479 |
| 16 | 12 November | St Johnstone | H | 5–3 | Pirie (3) (pen.), Sinclair | 5,753 |
| 17 | 19 November | Dumbarton | A | 0–0 | | 1,700 |
| 18 | 26 November | Hamilton Academical | H | 3–0 | Williamson, Shirra, Sinclair | 6,686 |
| 19 | 3 December | Kilmarnock | A | 0–1 | | 4,500 |
| 20 | 10 December | Montrose | H | 4–1 | Pirie (2), Sinclair, Williamson | 5,108 |
| 21 | 17 December | East Fife | A | 3–0 | Pirie, Williamson, Scott | 2,860 |
| 22 | 24 December | Greenock Morton | H | 3–1 | Pirie (2), McLean (o.g.) | 12,458 |
| 23 | 31 December | Stirling Albion | A | 3–2 | Pirie (2), Sinclair | 4,000 |
| 24 | 2 January | St Johnstone | H | 3–4 | Scott, Williamson (2) | 12,785 |
| 25 | 7 January | Heart of Midlothian | A | 2–2 | Pirie, McDougall | 19,720 |
| 26 | 14 January | Alloa Athletic | H | 6–0 | Pirie (4), Scott, Shirra | 6,582 |
| 27 | 25 February | East Fife | H | 2–0 | Pirie, Redford | 4,765 |
| 28 | 1 March | Montrose | A | 3–0 | Williamson, MacKinnon, Redford | 1,450 |
| 29 | 4 March | Airdrieonians | A | 3–3 | Redford, McGeachie, Williamson | 4,000 |
| 30 | 8 March | Hamilton Academical | A | 1–0 | Pirie | 1,200 |
| 31 | 11 March | Queen of the South | H | 3–0 | Pirie (2), Redford | 5,222 |
| 32 | 18 March | Arbroath | A | 0–0 | | 4,104 |
| 33 | 22 March | Kilmarnock | H | 5–2 | Redford (2), Williamson (2), Scott | 5,295 |
| 34 | 25 March | Arbroath | H | 2–0 | Williamson, Sinclair | 6,605 |
| 35 | 8 April | Greenock Morton | H | 1–1 | Redford | 12,305 |
| 36 | 12 April | Dumbarton | A | 1–2 | Redford | 2,000 |
| 37 | 15 April | Alloa Athletic | A | 5–1 | Pirie (3), McGeachie, Sinclair | 2,000 |
| 38 | 22 April | Queen of the South | H | 3–0 | Sinclair, MacKinnon, Williamson | 6,152 |
| 39 | 29 April | Greenock Morton | A | 3–2 | Redford, Glennie, Pirie | 8,000 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Morton (C, P) | 39 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 85 | 42 | +43 | 58 | Promotion to the Premier Division |
| 2 | Heart of Midlothian (P) | 39 | 24 | 10 | 5 | 77 | 42 | +35 | 58 | Promotion to the Premier Division |
| 3 | Dundee | 39 | 25 | 7 | 7 | 91 | 44 | +47 | 57 | |
| 4 | Dumbarton | 39 | 16 | 17 | 6 | 65 | 48 | +17 | 49 | |
| 5 | Stirling Albion | 39 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 60 | 52 | +8 | 42 | |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1st round, 1st leg | 17 August | Montrose | A | 3–1 | Pirie, Strachan, Hutchinson | 2,144 |
| 1st round, 2nd leg | 24 August | Montrose | H | 1–0 | Pirie (pen.) | 3,653 |
| Dundee win 4–1 on aggregate |||||||
| 2nd round, 1st leg | 31 August | Berwick Rangers | H | 4–0 | Sinclair (2), McDougall, Pirie | 3,183 |
| 2nd round, 2nd leg | 3 September | Berwick Rangers | A | 1–1 | McDougall | 1,000 |
| Dundee win 5–1 on aggregate |||||||
| 3rd round, 1st leg | 5 October | Queen of the South | H | 0–0 | | 4,647 |
| 3rd round, 2nd leg | 26 October | Queen of the South | A | 0–6 | | 3,500 |
| QoS win 6–0 on aggregate |||||||

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 3rd round | 6 February | Celtic | A | 1–7 | Schaedler | 22,000 |

## Player statistics

Statistics provided by Dee Archive
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | First Division | First Division | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | SCO | Thomson Allan | 19 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Alex Caldwell | 26 | 0 | 18+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | John Cord | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Ally Donaldson | 27 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Bobby Ford | 22 | 0 | 13+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Tommy Gemmell | 25 | 4 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Bobby Glennie | 13 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Wilson Hoggan | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Bobby Hutchinson | 13 | 2 | 8+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| | DF | SCO | Davie Johnston | 32 | 0 | 22+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Jimmy Johnstone | 3 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Derek Laing | 5 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Dave MacKinnon | 27 | 3 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | John MacPhail | 39 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | John Martin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Roy McCormack | 3 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Ian McDougall | 44 | 3 | 36+1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| | DF | SCO | George McGeachie | 16 | 2 | 12+3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Paddy Morris | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Iain Phillip | 21 | 0 | 14+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Pirie | 46 | 38 | 39 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| | MF | SCO | Ian Redford | 41 | 10 | 25+9 | 10 | 0+1 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Bobby Robinson | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Erich Schaedler | 16 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Jocky Scott | 21 | 4 | 19+1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Shirra | 24 | 2 | 22+1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Alan Simpson | 4 | 1 | 2+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Eric Sinclair | 38 | 15 | 27+6 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| | MF | SCO | Gordon Strachan | 14 | 1 | 5+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| | DF | SCO | Stuart Turnbull | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Williamson | 44 | 17 | 37 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |