On Sunday Glenafton Athletic travel to face Lugar Boswell Thistle in the Scottish Junior Cup 2nd round. Incredibly, it is only the second time the two clubs have met in the competition, the first some 40 years ago, also in the second round and at Rosebank.
There is a wee bit more to the story than meets the eye.
Lanemark vs. Lugar Boswell
Lanemark Football Club was formed in 1877 and were based at Connel Park in the parish of New Cumnock, their pitch owned by Lanemark Collieries. A senior side, their first recorded match was an Ayrshire Cup tie in 1877/78 against Rankinston Mountaineers. The following season Lugar Boswell were formed and in Season 1881/82 they played host to Lanemark in the Scottish Cup 1st round and enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win. The two sides never met again in the senior Scottish Cup.
Traces of Lugar Boswell competing as a senior side in the Ayrshire Cup disappear after season 1901/1902 and the club resurfaces in the junior ranks a few years later. Lanemark continued to play until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 and folded soon after its conclusion.
New Cumnock United vs Lugar Boswell
The footballing gap was filled by junior side New Cumnock United, who were also based at Connel Park, the pitch now owned by New Cumnock Collieries. The “U’s”, as they were known, competed in the South Ayrshire League and won three titles in a row from 1921/22 through to 1923/24, while Lugar Boswell didn’t join the league until 1926/27 and in some style by winning the title. New Cumnock United folded at the end of the next season as the fall in demand for coal impacted the community. During their brief existence my incomplete records suggest that United and Boswell never met each other in the Scottish Junior Cup.
Glenafton Athletic vs. Lugar Boswell
In 1930, Glenafton Athletic rose from the ashes of United, playing at the Connel Park pitch with many of the United players in their ranks and won back to back South Ayrshire League titles, while Lugar finished in bottom place in both these seasons. The days of the small southern league were numbered and it collapsed. Many of the clubs including Glens and Lugar applied for admission to the Western League, comprising chiefly of north Ayrshire teams, but all were rejected. Although there was no league football in season 1932/33 the two sides met in the Mauchline Cup final (held over from the season before) at New Station Park, Cumnock. The Glens retained the trophy with first half goals from Adair and Blair before McCall pulled one back for Lugar after the break.
Glenafton: Kinnaird; Ferguson & Penrose; Jackson, McHallum & Ballantyne; Carmichael, Campbell, Adair, Shankland & Blair. Lugar: White; Barbour & Johnstone; Baird, Gilmour & Torrance; Hesset, McCall, Newman, Kerr & Kelly
However, the two sides never did meet in the Scottish Junior Cup and the following season Glenafton Athletic ( along with Kello Rovers and Auchinleck Talbot) were admitted to the Western League, while Lugar Boswell folded.
Glenafton Athletic vs. Lugar Boswell Thistle
After World War II Lugar Boswell re-formed as Lugar Boswell Thistle at the start of Season 1945/46 and the ‘Jaggy Bunnets’ were born. A decade later they reached the final of the Scottish Junior Cup but lost out to Petershill in the Hampden final. Almost another ten years would pass before Glenafton reached the final for the first time, they too going down at Hampden, to Irvine Meadow. It would be near on another decade, during Season 1973/74, before Glenafton and Lugar would meet in the Scottish Junior Cup for the first time.
Rosebank was the venue for the Scottish Junior Cup 2nd round tie and two goals in quick succession, from Holland in 58 minutes and Cairns two minutes later, put the visitors ahead. Gilmour pulled one back for the Thistle but it was the Glens that progressed to the 3rd round.
Glenafton: Carruthers; Sturgeon, McAughtrie; Mackie, Stirling, McEwan; Cairms, Leonard, Holland, Shields and Graham. Sub- Peck. Lugar : Wilson; Burley, Pearson; Wright, Ferguson, Cree; Blackwood, Kane, Bradford, Gilmour & Lee. Subs -Burns and Hunter.
The Glens team below from the early 70’s includes Harry Carruthers, Willie Mackie, Hugh Holland and Drew Peck that faced Lugar – while the home team’s full backs that day were Burley and Pearson -perhaps Tom and Donald that had previously played for the Glens.
Glenafton Athletic ca. 1970-72
Back row: Will Kerr, Jim Marshall, Tom Burley, Donald Pearson, Harry Carruthers, Jim Laidlaw, Hugh Holland, Jimmy Anderson, Hugh Campbell
Front Row: Mick Morran, ?, Drew Peck, Jim Clark, Matt Fulton, Bobby Neil, Willie Mackie, Martin Campbell.
Forty years ….where did they go!
Glenafton Athletic 