Season 1978-79

Former player Jim Clunie was in the manager’s seat by the time season 1978-79 began. He inherited an established squad of players and continued to develop them into a team who had belief in their own ability.

They began with a 1-0 win over Southampton in a pre-season friendly match before travelling to Ibrox for the opening league fixture. Rangers were favourites in everyone’s eyes, but a single Bobby Torrance goal brought two points back to Paisley. The following week, Saints lost 1-0 at home to Motherwell, showing up the inconsistency that they were to show throughout the season.

The highlight of the campaign was a spell during January when wins over Dundee United (2-1), Hearts (2-1) and Motherwell (1-0) took Saints to third place in the league. The following week they played Aberdeen in a bruising encounter which saw the Dons reduced to nine men, Aberdeen enjoying a 2-0 lead and then an amazing fight back with goals from McGarvey and Copland to earn a draw. This result coupled with others that day saw them claim top spot in the league table. They cemented this position with victories over Motherwell (3-0) and Morton (3-1) with McGarvey netting 5 of the goals. Unfortunately six defeats in the next seven games saw Saints slip to mid table and out of the championship race.

The Anglo-Scottish Cup was contested again and after defeating Motherwell and Bristol City they lost on penalties to Oldham Athletic in the semi final.