# 1978–79 Dundee F.C. season

The 1978–79 season was the 77th season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in the First Division for the third straight season. In another tight title race, Dundee would prevail and win both promotion back to the top tier and the First Division title. Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup, where they would be eliminated by Celtic in the 1st round of the League Cup, and by Rangers in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

## Scottish First Division

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 12 August | Ayr United | A | 1–0 | Redford | 3,875 |
| 2 | 19 August | Arbroath | H | 2–0 | Sinclair, Pirie | 6,826 |
| 3 | 26 August | St Johnstone | A | 2–0 | Pirie (2) | 3,875 |
| 4 | 6 September | Montrose | H | 1–1 | Phillip | 4,708 |
| 5 | 9 September | Kilmarnock | A | 1–1 | Lamb | |
| 6 | 13 September | Raith Rovers | A | 4–2 | Barr, McDougall, Redford (2) | 4,488 |
| 7 | 16 September | Clyde | H | 2–0 | Redford, Williamson | 6,899 |
| 8 | 23 September | Clydebank | H | 2–0 | Pirie (2) | 7,272 |
| 9 | 27 September | Dumbarton | A | 0–0 | | 1,700 |
| 10 | 30 September | Hamilton Academical | A | 2–1 | Shirra, McGhee | 3,000 |
| 11 | 7 October | Queen of the South | H | 5–0 | Redford, Williamson (2) | 5,837 |
| 12 | 14 October | Stirling Albion | A | 0–1 | | 2,000 |
| 13 | 21 October | Airdrieonians | H | 1–0 | Shirra | 5,600 |
| 14 | 28 October | Arbroath | A | 1–0 | Wells (o.g.) | 3,852 |
| 15 | 4 November | St Johnstone | H | 1–1 | Caldwell | 5,918 |
| 16 | 11 November | Kilmarnock | H | 0–0 | | 5,620 |
| 17 | 18 November | Clyde | A | 1–2 | Glennie | 2,368 |
| 18 | 25 November | Clydebank | A | 1–2 | Sinclair | 2,243 |
| 19 | 2 December | Hamilton Academical | H | 1–1 | Pirie | 4,646 |
| 20 | 9 December | Queen of the South | A | 1–3 | Williamson | 1,350 |
| 21 | 16 December | Stirling Albion | H | 2–1 | Pirie, Redford | 4,641 |
| 22 | 23 December | Airdrieonians | A | 2–0 | Pirie, Murphy | |
| 23 | 21 February | Clydebank | H | 2–1 | Redford (2) | 5,901 |
| 24 | 14 March | Montrose | A | 2–0 | Redford, Lamb | 1,800 |
| 25 | 24 March | Dumbarton | H | 2–0 | Shirra, Pirie (pen.) | 5,547 |
| 26 | 28 March | Stirling Albion | A | 1–0 | Pirie | 2,000 |
| 27 | 31 March | Ayr United | A | 2–1 | Sinclair, Pirie (pen.) | 2,970 |
| 28 | 4 April | Queen of the South | H | 4–0 | Sinclair (2), Pirie (2) (pen.) | 4,546 |
| 29 | 7 April | Dumbarton | A | 2–3 | Pirie, Redford | 1,500 |
| 30 | 11 April | Raith Rovers | A | 2–1 | MacLaren, Redford | 2,769 |
| 31 | 14 April | Hamilton Academical | H | 4–3 | Sinclair (2), MacLaren, Shirra | 5,804 |
| 32 | 18 April | Clyde | H | 2–0 | MacLaren, Pirie | 5,222 |
| 33 | 21 April | Airdrieonians | A | 4–2 | Sinclair, Shirra, Redford (2) | 2,500 |
| 34 | 25 April | Kilmarnock | A | 1–2 | Murphy | 5,000 |
| 35 | 28 April | Montrose | H | 1–0 | Pirie (pen.) | 5,941 |
| 36 | 2 May | St Johnstone | A | 2–3 | Sinclair, Schaedler | 5,840 |
| 37 | 6 May | Arbroath | H | 0–2 | | 8,385 |
| 38 | 8 May | Raith Rovers | H | 2–0 | Redford, MacLaren | 6,450 |
| 39 | 10 May | Ayr United | H | 2–2 | Redford (2) | 7,692 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Dundee (C, P) | 39 | 24 | 7 | 8 | 69 | 36 | +33 | 55 | Promotion to the Premier Division |
| 2 | Kilmarnock (P) | 39 | 22 | 10 | 7 | 72 | 36 | +36 | 54 | Promotion to the Premier Division |
| 3 | Clydebank | 39 | 24 | 6 | 9 | 78 | 50 | +28 | 54 | |
| 4 | Ayr United | 39 | 21 | 5 | 13 | 73 | 54 | +19 | 47 | |
| 5 | Hamilton Academical | 39 | 17 | 9 | 13 | 63 | 61 | +2 | 43 | |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1st round, 1st leg | 16 August | Celtic | A | 1–3 | Sinclair | 10,515 |
| 1st round, 2nd leg | 23 August | Celtic | H | 0–3 | | 12,698 |
| Celtic win 6–1 on aggregate |||||||

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 3rd round | 25 February | Falkirk | H | 1–0 | Pirie (pen.) | 9,671 |
| 4th round | 3 March | St Mirren | H | 4–1 | Lamb, Sinclair (2), Pirie (pen.) | 11,140 |
| Quarter-finals | 10 March | Rangers | A | 3–6 | MacLaren (2), Shirra | 23,000 |

## 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 |
| | DF | SCO | Les Barr | 26 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Chic Bradley | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Norrie Brown | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Alex Caldwell | 16 | 1 | 14+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Gerry Davidson | 7 | 0 | 3+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Ally Donaldson | 44 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Bobby Glennie | 42 | 1 | 36+1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Alan Lamb | 29 | 3 | 22+2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Dave MacKinnon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Stewart MacLaren | 24 | 6 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | John MacPhail | 4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Ian McDougall | 18 | 0 | 8+9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | George McGeachie | 5 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Alec McGhee | 22 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Peter Millar | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Murphy | 19 | 2 | 10+6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Iain Phillip | 9 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Pirie | 35 | 18 | 30+1 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Ian Redford | 41 | 16 | 33+4 | 16 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Erich Schaedler | 31 | 1 | 27+1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Jocky Scott | 5 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Brian Scrimgeour | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Shirra | 37 | 6 | 30+2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Eric Sinclair | 35 | 13 | 27+4 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| | MF | SCO | Gordon Strachan | 14 | 1 | 5+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| | DF | SCO | Willie Watson | 39 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Williamson | 23 | 4 | 20+3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |