# 1985–86 Dundee F.C. season

The 1985–86 season was the 84th season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in the Scottish Premier Division. Dundee would finish in 6th place for the second consecutive season. Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup, where they were knocked out of the League Cup by Hamilton Academical in the 3rd round, and were defeated by Aberdeen in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
During this season, the club would incorporate a single stripe onto their classic navy shirts, diagonally split displaying red and white. This season would be most memorable for Dundee's final game of the league season, where a late double from substitute Albert Kidd would help Dundee defeat Heart of Midlothian, inadvertently ending their title hopes and allowing Celtic to win instead, resulting in Kidd becoming a cult figure for the Celtic fanbase, as well as for those of Hibernian faith.

## Scottish Premier Division

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 10 August | St Mirren | H | 2–1 | Connor (2) (pen.) | 6,474 |
| 2 | 17 August | Clydebank | A | 0–4 | | 2,500 |
| 3 | 24 August | Dundee United | A | 0–2 | | 13,736 |
| 4 | 31 August | Aberdeen | H | 1–3 | Black | 7,592 |
| 5 | 7 September | Motherwell | A | 3–1 | McCormack, Brown, Harvey | 2,607 |
| 6 | 14 September | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | Brown | 5,410 |
| 7 | 21 September | Rangers | A | 1–0 | Rafferty | 23,600 |
| 8 | 28 September | Celtic | H | 0–2 | | 15,387 |
| 9 | 5 October | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–1 | McWilliams | 8,512 |
| 10 | 12 October | St Mirren | A | 0–1 | | 4,250 |
| 11 | 19 October | Clydebank | H | 2–0 | Stephen (2) | 4,160 |
| 12 | 26 October | Motherwell | H | 3–1 | Harvey, Stephen, McCormack | 4,628 |
| 13 | 2 November | Hibernian | A | 1–2 | Glennie | 6,474 |
| 14 | 9 November | Aberdeen | A | 1–4 | Stephen | 12,800 |
| 15 | 16 November | Dundee United | H | 0–3 | | 11,736 |
| 16 | 23 November | Rangers | H | 3–2 | Brown (3) (pen.) | 10,798 |
| 17 | 7 December | Heart of Midlothian | H | 1–1 | Brown | 10,780 |
| 18 | 14 December | St Mirren | H | 3–1 | Brown, Harvey, Stephen | 4,290 |
| 19 | 23 December | Clydebank | A | 0–0 | | 1,350 |
| 20 | 28 December | Dundee United | A | 0–0 | | 14,869 |
| 21 | 1 January | Aberdeen | H | 0–0 | | 9,096 |
| 22 | 4 January | Rangers | A | 0–5 | | 13,954 |
| 23 | 11 January | Hibernian | H | 3–1 | Brown (pen.), Stephen (2) | 5,073 |
| 24 | 18 January | Motherwell | A | 2–2 | Rafferty, Brown (pen.) | 2,204 |
| 25 | 1 February | Celtic | H | 1–3 | Stephen (pen.) | 12,295 |
| 26 | 8 February | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–3 | Mennie | 15,365 |
| 27 | 22 February | St Mirren | A | 2–1 | Stephen (2) | 3,123 |
| 28 | 1 March | Clydebank | H | 4–0 | Harvey, Stephen (3) | 4,033 |
| 29 | 15 March | Rangers | H | 2–1 | Brown (pen.), Harvey | 10,965 |
| 30 | 22 March | Aberdeen | A | 0–0 | | 13,013 |
| 31 | 29 March | Dundee United | H | 0–1 | | 15,079 |
| 32 | 2 April | Celtic | A | 1–2 | Stephen | 12,506 |
| 33 | 12 April | Hibernian | A | 0–1 | | 4,477 |
| 34 | 19 April | Motherwell | H | 4–0 | Forsyth, Glennie, Rafferty | 3,745 |
| 35 | 26 April | Celtic | H | 0–2 | | 13,521 |
| 36 | 11 May | Heart of Midlothian | H | 2–0 | Kidd (2) | 19,567 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 36 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 62 | 31 | +31 | 44 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 5 | Rangers | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 53 | 45 | +8 | 35 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Dundee | 36 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 45 | 51 | −6 | 35 | |
| 7 | St Mirren | 36 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 42 | 63 | −21 | 31 | |
| 8 | Hibernian | 36 | 11 | 6 | 19 | 49 | 63 | −14 | 28 | |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 2nd round | 21 August | Stranraer | A | 3–2 | Smith, Stephen (2) | 1,554 |
| 3rd round | 28 August | Hamilton Academical | A | 1–2 (A.E.T.) | Kidd | 2,234 |

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 3rd round | 25 January | Nairn County | A | 7–0 | Rafferty, Shannon (2), Harvey (3), Hendry | 3,600 |
| 4th round | 19 February | Airdrieonians | H | 2–0 | Stephen, Mennie | 4,010 |
| Quarter-finals | 8 March | Aberdeen | H | 2–2 | Brown, Harvey | 13,188 |
| QF replay | 12 March | Aberdeen | A | 1–2 (A.E.T.) | Stephen | 21,000 |

## 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 |
| | FW | SCO | Russell Black | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | John Brown | 32 | 12 | 28+1 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Stevie Campbell | 5 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Bobby Connor | 41 | 2 | 35 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Danny Crainie | 3 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Jim Duffy | 42 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Stewart Forsyth | 13 | 1 | 7+2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Bobby Geddes | 42 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Bobby Glennie | 37 | 2 | 32+1 | 2 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Graham Harvey | 36 | 9 | 25+5 | 5 | 3+1 | 4 | 1+1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Colin Hendry | 22 | 1 | 10+9 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Ross Jack | 8 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Albert Kidd | 14 | 3 | 4+8 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| | FW | SCO | Walker McCall | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | John McCormack | 31 | 2 | 15+12 | 2 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | George McGeachie | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Tosh McKinlay | 26 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Derek McWilliams | 11 | 1 | 6+5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | FRG | Vince Mennie | 14 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Stuart Rafferty | 34 | 4 | 23+6 | 3 | 1+2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Rab Shannon | 39 | 2 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Smith | 37 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| | FW | SCO | Ray Stephen | 38 | 18 | 32+1 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| | DF | SCO | John Waddell | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |