2002–03 Dumbarton F.C. season

Dumbarton

2002-03 season
Manager	David Winnie/ Brian Fairlie
Stadium	Strathclyde Homes Stadium, Dumbarton
Scottish League Division 2	6th
Scottish Cup	First Round
Scottish League Cup	First Round
Bell's Challenge Cup	Third Round
Top goalscorer	League: Paddy Flannery/ Gary McCutcheon (8) All: John Dillon (9)
Highest home attendance	1,501
Lowest home attendance	480
Average home league attendance	950

Season 2002–03 was the 126th football season in which Dumbarton competed at a Scottish national level, entering the Scottish Football League for the 96th time, the Scottish Cup for the 108th time, the Scottish League Cup for the 56th time and the Scottish Challenge Cup for the 12th time.

Overview

Season 2002-03 began with yet another new manager at the helm. Following the success of promotion the season before, Tom Carson had fallen out with the board and left the club, to be replaced by David Winnie. The league campaign, as was so often the case with Dumbarton, started well and then fell away. By March there were some concerns of a return to Division 3, resulting in David Winnie's departure as manager. Fortunately his replacement Brian Fairlie had the desired effect and a final unbeaten 7 game run ensured a creditable 6th place.

In the Scottish Cup, for the second year running, it would be a first round exit, this time to Raith Rovers.

In the League Cup, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were to prove too much to handle in the first round.

Finally, in the Scottish Challenge Cup, it was a case of 'role reversal'. In the competition which had seen just one win in ten attempts, this season would see a mini cup run before Queen of the South would bring it to an end in the third round.

Locally, in the Stirlingshire Cup, Dumbarton played just one group tie, losing to Falkirk on penalties after a drawn game.

Results

Win

Draw

Loss

All results are written with Dumbarton's score first.

Scottish League

Main article: 2002–03 Scottish Football League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
3 August 2002	Stenhousemuir	A	2-2	Bonar;Flannery	419
10 August 2002	Brechin City	H	1-0	Collins	735
17 August 2002	Raith Rovers	H	0-1		1,866
24 August 2002	Airdrie United	H	3-1	Brown,A;Dillon;Collins	1,417
31 August 2002	Berwick Rangers	A	2-1	McCutcheon(2)	509
14 September 2002	Forfar Athletic	H	1-2	McCutcheon	827
21 September 2002	Stranraer	A	0-1		563
28 September 2002	Hamilton	H	1-1	Brown,A	1,202
5 October 2002	Cowdenbeath	A	1-3	McCutcheon	363
26 October 2002	Stenhousemuir	H	0-0		819
29 October 2002	Brechin City	A	1-1	Brown,T	250
2 November 2002	Berwick Rangers	H	1-2	Lynes	768
9 November 2002	Airdrie United	A	1-0	Flannery	1,352
16 November 2002	Forfar Athletic	A	0-2		556
23 November 2002	Stranraer	H	3-0	Flannery;McCutcheon;Bonar	740
30 November 2002	Cowdenbeath	H	1-1	McCutcheon	754
14 December 2002	Hamilton	A	0-1		1,062
28 December 2002	Raith Rovers	H	0-1		1,244
1 January 2003	Airdrie United	H	2-1	Obidile;Dillon	1,024
11 January 2003	Berwick Rangers	A	1-0	Dillon	580
18 January 2003	Forfar Athletic	H	1-2	Dillon	867
25 January 2003	Stenhousemuir	A	1-2	Dillon	483
1 February 2003	Stranraer	A	2-1	McCutcheon;Scally	405
8 February 2003	Hamilton	H	3-1	Scally;Collins;McCutcheon	1,107
1 March 2003	Raith Rovers	H	1-2	Scally	1,780
8 March 2003	Airdrie United	A	1-2	Flannery	1,136
11 March 2003	Brechin City	H	1-3	Flannery	480
15 March 2003	Berwick Rangers	H	2-2	Brown,A;Bonar	915
18 March 2003	Cowdenbeath	A	0-2		218
1 April 2003	Stranraer	H	1-1	Donald	596
5 April 2003	Forfar Athletic	A	1-0	Scally	450
12 April 2003	Cowdenbeath	H	3-1	Flannery;Dillon;Obidile	1,203
19 April 2003	Hamilton	A	2-2	Flannery;Brown,A	1,270
26 April 2003	Stenhousemuir	H	3-1	Flannery;Russell;Scally	906
3 May 2003	Brechin City	A	1-1	Obidile	895
10 May 2003	Raith Rovers	H	4-1	Russell(3);Dillon	1,501

Scottish Cup

Main article: 2002–03 Scottish Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
7 December 2002	1	Raith Rovers	A	0-1		1,639

Scottish League Cup

Main article: 2002–03 Scottish League Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
10 September 2002	1	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	A	0-2		667

Scottish Challenge Cup

Main article: 2002–03 Scottish Challenge Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
6 August 2002	1	East Fife	H	1-0	Duffy	452
13 August 2002	2	Ayr United	H	3-0	Brown,T;Dillon(2)	938
20 August 2002	3	Queen of the South	A	0-2		1,128

Stirlingshire Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
16 July 2002	P	Falkirk	H	1-1*	Brown,T

* - lost on penalties

Other Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
6 July 2002	Dumbarton Academicals	A	1-0	Crilly
10 July 2002	Queen's Park	A	2-1	Bonar;OG
20 July 2002	Dunfermline Athletic	A	1-2	Robertson
27 July 2002	Wycombe Wanderers	H	3-2	Duffy;Flannery;Lynes	442
15 October 2002	Neilston	A	3-0	Scally;Lynes;Crilly
24 October 2002	Arthurlie	A	2-1	Flannery;Dillon
21 December 2002	St Mirren	A	4-3	McCutcheon;Scally;Dillon;McKelvie
5 March 2003	St Mirren	A	2-1	Flannery;Lynes
15 April 2003	Albion Rovers	A	3-0	McCutcheon;Obidile;trialist

Appearances

Dumbarton used 24 players for the 41 League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and Scottish Challenge Cup matches, as detailed below.

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
Steven Bonar	MF	29(10)	3
Craig Brittain	DF	28
Andy Brown	FW	23(10)	4
Tom Brown	FW	26(4)	3
Neil Collins	DF	38	3
Mark Crilly	MF	15(2)
Michael Dickie	DF	23(4)
John Dillon	MF	39(1)	9
Barry Donald	MF	3(4)	1
Neil Duffy	DF	27	1
Paddy Flannery	FW	22(9)	8
Stephen Grindlay	GK	38
Craig Lynes	MF	5(13)	1
Kevin McCann	DF	3(4)
Gary McCutcheon	FW	24(8)	8
Craig McEwan	DF	25(3)
Danny McKelvie	FW	1(7)
John McKeown	DF	12(4)
Emeka Obidile	MF	9(5)	3
Joe Robertson	FW	5(10)
Iain Russell	FW	8(3)	4
Neil Scally	FW	25(4)	5
Dave Stewart	DF	20(5)
John Wight	GK	3(1)

See also

• 2002–03 in Scottish football

External links

• Scottish Football Historical Archive