# 1951–52 Dundee F.C. season

The 1951–52 season was the fiftieth season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in Division A, where the club would finish in 8th place.
Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup. Dundee would find great success in the cups in this season, coming close to winning the double. After just barely qualifying out from the group stage, Dundee would make it to the League Cup Final where they would defeat Rangers by the score of 3–2, with captain Alf Boyd scoring a 90th-minute header from a Billy Steel free kick to secure the club's second major honour in its history, in front of a crowd of 92,325. Dundee would grace Hampden Park again for the Scottish Cup Final, but failed in their bid to win both cups in a comprehensive defeat to Motherwell. The attendance for this final is a Scottish record for any game not involving either of the Old Firm.

## Scottish Division A

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 8 September | Stirling Albion | A | 2–2 | Copland | 11,000 |
| 2 | 22 September | Aberdeen | A | 1–3 | Irvine | 25,000 |
| 3 | 29 September | Rangers | H | 1–0 | Steel | 31,000 |
| 4 | 6 October | Heart of Midlothian | A | 2–4 | Toner, Flavell | 28,522 |
| 5 | 20 October | Celtic | H | 2–1 | Christie, Pattillo | 32,000 |
| 6 | 3 November | Raith Rovers | H | 2–0 | Flavell (2) | 21,000 |
| 7 | 10 November | Motherwell | A | 1–2 | Flavell | 7,000 |
| 8 | 17 November | Queen of the South | H | 0–0 | | 15,000 |
| 9 | 24 November | St Mirren | A | 1–1 | Flavell | 12,000 |
| 10 | 1 December | Hibernian | A | 1–4 | Ewen | 26,000 |
| 11 | 8 December | East Fife | H | 3–4 | Pattillo, Flavell (2) | 23,000 |
| 12 | 15 December | Airdrieonians | A | 3–4 | Burrell, Steel, Flavell | 9,000 |
| 13 | 22 December | Stirling Albion | H | 4–1 | Cowan, Boyd, Flavell, A. Henderson | 17,000 |
| 14 | 25 December | Partick Thistle | A | 3–1 | A. Henderson (2), Ziesing | 17,000 |
| 15 | 29 December | Third Lanark | A | 2–0 | Flavell, Steel | 8,000 |
| 16 | 1 January | Aberdeen | H | 3–2 | Pattillo, Hill, Flavell | 26,000 |
| 17 | 2 January | Rangers | A | 2–1 | Steel, Christie | 35,000 |
| 18 | 5 January | Heart of Midlothian | H | 3–3 | A. Henderson, Steel, Christie | 32,000 |
| 19 | 12 January | Greenock Morton | A | 0–3 | | 12,000 |
| 20 | 19 January | Celtic | A | 1–1 | Steel | 35,000 |
| 21 | 13 February | Raith Rovers | A | 2–1 | Toner, Ewen | 4,200 |
| 22 | 16 February | Motherwell | H | 1–2 | Williams | 21,009 |
| 23 | 27 February | Queen of the South | A | 0–1 | | 5,000 |
| 24 | 1 March | St Mirren | H | 3–0 | Burrell, A. Henderson, Ziesing | 12,000 |
| 25 | 15 March | East Fife | A | 1–3 | A. Henderson | 12,000 |
| 26 | 22 March | Airdrieonians | H | 0–1 | | 17,000 |
| 27 | 2 April | Greenock Morton | H | 2–2 | Ziesing, Hill | 7,500 |
| 28 | 9 April | Hibernian | A | 1–3 | Christie | 26,000 |
| 29 | 12 April | Partick Thistle | H | 0–2 | | 16,000 |
| 30 | 26 April | Third Lanark | H | 6–0 | Christie, Flavell (3), A. Henderson | 10,500 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 6 | Partick Thistle | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 48 | 51 | −3 | 31 |
| 7 | Motherwell | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 51 | 57 | −6 | 31 |
| 8 | Dundee | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 53 | 52 | +1 | 28 |
| 9 | Celtic | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 52 | 55 | −3 | 28 |
| 10 | Queen of the South | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 50 | 60 | −10 | 28 |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.

### Group 3

| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 11 August | St Mirren | A | 2–2 | Toner, Flavell | 12,000 |
| 2 | 15 August | Heart of Midlothian | H | 2–1 | Ziesing (2) | 22,500 |
| 3 | 18 August | Raith Rovers | H | 5–0 | Steel, Toner (3), Colville (o.g.) | 21,000 |
| 4 | 25 August | St Mirren | H | 0–1 | | 21,000 |
| 5 | 29 August | Heart of Midlothian | A | 2–5 | Toner, Ziesing | 32,488 |
| 6 | 1 September | Raith Rovers | A | 3–1 | Christie (2), Williams | 12,400 |

#### Group 3 table

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| Dundee | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 1.400 | 7 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 1.250 | 7 |
| St Mirren | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 1.000 | 6 |
| Raith Rovers | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 0.462 | 4 |

### Knockout stage

| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| Quarter-finals, 1st leg | 15 September | Falkirk | A | 0–0 | | 12,000 |
| Quarter-finals, 2nd leg | 20 September | Falkirk | H | 2–1 | Ziesing, Steel | 20,000 |
| Dundee won 2–1 on aggregate |||||||
| Semi-finals | 13 October | Motherwell | N | 5–1 | Christie, Flavell (3), Pattillo | 31,000 |
| Final | 27 October | Rangers | N | 3–2 | Flavell 47', Pattillo 69', Boyd 90' | 92,325 |

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1st round | 26 January | Ayr United | H | 4–0 | Irvine (2), Pattillo, Steel | 20,000 |
| 2nd round | 9 February | Wigtown & Bladnoch | A | 7–1 | Steel (2), Pattillo (2), Hill (2), Christie | 4,000 |
| 3rd round | 23 February | Berwick Rangers | H | 1–0 | Pattillo | 15,000 |
| Quarter-finals | 8 March | Aberdeen | H | 4–0 | Ziesing, Steel (2), Boyd | 41,000 |
| Semi-finals | 29 March | Third Lanark | N | 2–0 | Burrell, Steel | 23,615 |
| Final | 19 April | Motherwell | N | 0–4 | | 136,274 |

## Player statistics

Statistics provided by Dee Archive
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Division A | Division A | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | FW | SCO | Jimmy Andrews | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Alfie Boyd | 42 | 3 | 26 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| | GK | SCO | Bill Brown | 21 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | FW | NIR | Gerry Burrell | 14 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | George Christie | 36 | 9 | 24 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| | FW | SCO | Ernie Copland | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | CAN | Jack Cowan | 32 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Doug Cowie | 38 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Ernie Ewen | 8 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Bobby Flavell | 32 | 19 | 21 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 |
| | DF | SCO | Gerry Follon | 40 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Jimmy Fraser | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Gordon Frew | 16 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Tommy Gallacher | 35 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Albert Henderson | 11 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Bobby Henderson | 25 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Robert Henderson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | George Hill | 17 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Andy Irvine | 12 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | George Merchant | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Johnny Pattillo | 23 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Steel | 35 | 14 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| | FW | SCO | Jimmy Toner | 20 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 |
| | FW | RSA | Stan Williams | 10 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| | MF | RSA | Ken Ziesing | 20 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 |