The Sons’ success arrived by taxi from Easter Road
A winning run at the start of the season always brings a sense of optimism to supporters.
Dumbarton, one of Scotland’s oldest clubs, started this term with three league wins in a row for the first time since 1959.
They were going to equal the 63-year-old record of making it four wins on the bounce against Stenhousemuir yesterday.
Sixty-three years ago, the successful series of results came to a shuddering halt when match No. 5 saw them thrashed 7-2 by St Johnstone.
A special train had taken the fans from Dumbarton to Perth at the cost of 14 shillings and three pence per person.
The Sons’ hopes of another victory weren’t helped when regular goalie, Doug Robertson, had to be replaced by a trialist.
The stand-in keeper, Jimmy Woodburn – a cousin of Rangers’ defender Willie Woodburn – won’t have thought seven is the luckiest number.
Nevertheless, it had been a great start for new Dumbarton boss, Bobby Combe.
He had been a long-serving player with Hibs, and won three caps for Scotland.
Alex Duchart, one of the few survivors from Combe’s team of 1959, recalls an Easter Road connection being at the heart of the success.
He said: “Bobby was in the side when I made my Hibs’ debut in a 4-2 win over Falkirk in 1953.
“I was playing for East Fife when Dumbarton came in for me.
“Bobby Combe had a shop on Edinburgh’s Easter Road, and that’s where I signed.
“He also recruited Ken Allison, George Boyle and John Christie from Hibs. “Dumbarton treated their players really well. “They paid for a taxi to take the four of us from Stirling to Boghead for training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That was quite an expense for them.
“They also had nights out for the players and their wives. It was good for team spirit.
“We had some experienced players, such as Freddie Glidden, who had won the League with Hearts, and John Prentice.”
Of course, it’s not how you start but how you finish that really matters, and Dumbarton ended up sixth in the Second Division that season.
Bobby Combe resigned as Boghead boss in November 1960, just a few days after Alex, the player who made most appearances under him, had moved to Falkirk.
Duchart, now 89, had a long career on the left wing that started with Hibs. But he could easily have been playing a different sport.
As a teenager, his ambition was to play ice hockey. Football only came calling when, by complete chance, he was spotted kicking a T-ball around Victoria Park in Falkirk.
Two professionals taking a short cut through the park were amazed this kid could belt such a heavy ball while wearing “gutties”.
He played two games for Junior team, Petershill, then the chase for his signature began.
“I met Bill Struth, the manager of Rangers, in Glasgow’s St Enoch Hotel,” Alex recalled.
“Mr Struth told my father that photographers were waiting outside, and to make sure I put my coat over my head when I left.
“When we got to the door, my father said: ‘There’s no way you’re going out of this hotel covered in a coat.’.
“We were approached by a man in a trilby hat, who said he had a taxi waiting to take me to see Hibs’ manager, Hugh Shaw, in Edinburgh.
“The next day, a Sunday morning, we had six cars sitting in the cul-de-sac where we lived.
“One by one, managers and scouts came in to the house. The first was George Stevenson of Motherwell.
“Hugh Shaw, the man we had seen at Easter Road the night before, was also there.
“I didn’t sign for anyone, and was invited to the Rangers annual dance on the Monday night.
“But Hugh Shaw came calling again, and I signed for him. He showed how much he wanted me.
“I still have a newspaper cutting that says: ‘While Rangers danced the night away, Duchart signed for Hibs’.”