The following post was kindly submitted to us by Gordon McCreath, who is a keen Ayrshire junior football historian.
There were barely five minutes played when Alan Johnstone gathered the ball in midfield and played it wide to Eric Morris on the left touchline. Morris beat his defender and raced towards the corner of the penalty box. He spotted Mike Gillespie in the centre with his back to goal and sent a crisp pass to the big centre-forward. Gillespie knocked the ball back for Alan Johnstone who had sprinted forward and the red-shirted Meadow number 8 wasted no time in crashing the ball past the Cambuslang Rangers goalkeeper to give Irvine Meadow an early lead.
It was arguably the most important goal Johnstone had scored for Meadow. It was the first goal in the 1973 Scottish Junior Cup final at Hampden Park which ended in a 2-2 draw. The replay was a marvellous end-to-end game, finishing in a 3-3 draw after extra time. The third game at last produced a winner and it was Meadow who scored the only goal of the second replay to win the Scottish Junior Cup.
Alan Johnstone had started his Junior football career with Troon in 1968 then moved to Ardrossan Winton Rovers for a short spell before returning to Troon. Next stop was Largs Thistle in season 1970/71. Halfway through the following season he transferred to Kilbirnie Ladeside and at the end of that season he was on the move again, and it was as an Irvine Meadow player that he kicked off season 1972/73.
Alan was one of several new signings who quickly fitted into the Meadow way of doing things and soon began to look like forming a team capable of going well in the Scottish Junior Cup. Before long they had an attacking strategy worked out, as right-winger Rab Lewis explains: “My job was to get up the wing and deliver the cross for the other three forwards to attack. We soon worked out that I had three choices. If I played it in low, Alan Johnstone would be going to the near post to knock the ball into goal. He was very brave and a natural goal-scorer. If I played it in high, Mike Gillespie, who was great in the air, would go for it. Or I could put it over the top to where Eric Morris, who seemed to have the knack of hanging in the air, would swoop in and get it.”
After getting a bye in the first round of the Scottish Junior Cup, Meadow disposed of Haddington (after two drawn games 2-2 and 1-1), Bonnyrigg Rose and Kilsyth Rangers before Johnstone opened his Scottish Cup scoring account with two goals in the fifth round against Lochore Welfare in a 3-3 draw, following that up with another goal as Meadow won the replay. The quarter final draw sent Meadow to face Linlithgow Rose. The weather conditions certainly influenced play as wind-assisted Meadow took a 3-0 lead, helped by two goals from Johnstone; then in the second half it was Linlithgow’s turn to be wind-assisted and they pulled the score back to 3-3. A week later Linlithgow came to Meadow Park for the replay and they encountered Alan Johnstone in top form as he bagged another goal in a 3-1 victory. Johnstone scored again in the semi-final at Firhill as East Kilbride Thistle were swept aside 4-1.
Alan’s goal in the fifth minute of the Scottish Junior Cup final gave Meadow a great start. Four minutes later it was 1-1 but Eric Morris used his pace to escape several defenders before hitting a crisp shot into the far corner. It looked like the cup was coming to Irvine that night, but Cambuslang had other ideas and grabbed a late equaliser.
In the replay the following Wednesday, Alan turned goal maker. Cambuslang took a first-half lead, but after 53 minutes Johnstone back-headed a Hugh O’Brien throw-in and Morris hooked the ball past the ‘keeper. Two minutes later Sandy Hume was fouled near the bye-line as Meadow piled on the pressure. Johnstone swung the resultant free kick into the penalty box and when the ball broke to Morris he blasted it into the net. Extra time produced one more goal for each side, with O’Brien’s headed equaliser in the 3-3 draw snatching the cup away from Cambuslang’s grasp in the last minute. One week later and the cup was Meadow’s after a battling team performance in the second replay, with every player contributing to the triumph.
Of the 32 goals Meadow scored on their way to winning the Scottish Junior Cup that season, Johnstone netted seven, making him joint top scorer along with outside left Eric Morris. After winning the North section of the Ayrshire League, Meadow rounded off the season by winning the Drybrough Cup and Alan’s goal in the final against Jeanfield Swifts brought his total for the season to 46.
In the course of the season, Alan had caught the eye of the Scottish Amateur Football Association and was invited to play in a trial for the Scotland Amateurs at Hamilton on 3 April 1973 and then, following a convincing performance, was selected to play against the Netherlands in the UEFA Nations Amateur Cup on 17 April 1973. He is one of only 15 Junior players (3 are Meadow players – the other two were Bobby Murray and Ian Prentice) to have represented Scotland at Amateur level.
He was also selected to represent Junior Scotland in 1974 when they played the Central League Select to celebrate the centenary of Vale of Clyde FC.
Once the Junior season was over, Johnstone joined Morton though he was kept in reserve for the remaining few games and eventually made his first team debut in 1973/74, making six League Cup appearances and scoring twice. He also scored once in nine League appearances, including three as substitute. Two Scottish Cup appearances (one goal) completed Alan’s first team record.
In May 1974, Alan packed his boots and headed back to Meadow Park where he stayed from 1974/75 until 1978/79, helping the club to win the Ayrshire District Cup in 1976/77 and 1977/78.
After spells at Ardeer Thistle and Dalry Thistle, Alan moved back to Meadow as a player and eventually the club made him manager. In 1988/89 Johnstone led his team in a neck and neck race with Auchinleck Talbot for the Championship in what turned out to be a bitter-sweet triumph from his point of view. Meadow’s last league game was away to Auchinleck and a win, or even a draw, would have seen them crowned champions. However, a late header from Ross Findlay gave Auchinleck the points (only two points for a win in those days) and Talbot still had two games to play.
The Meadow committee, assuming that Auchinleck would get the required three points, sacked Alan Johnstone from his position as manager. Surprisingly, Auchinleck travelled to Kilbirnie and could only draw 0-0. However, a win in their final game would send Auchinleck to the top of the league. Their opponents in the final match would be deadly rivals Cumnock Juniors.
With ten minutes to play Auchinleck were leading 2-1 and things looked hopeless for Cumnock as they were down to nine men. Then Cumnock stunned Auchinleck by equalising! Auchinleck threw everything forward to get the required two points, for one point was of little use to them. But Cumnock were defending as if their lives depended on it. And then, unbelievably, Cumnock counter attacked and scored again. When the final whistle sounded Irvine Meadow were champions! But Alan Johnstone was still out of a job.
During his playing career Alan turned out for most of the Junior clubs in North Ayrshire, but he also sampled playing abroad. He played for a club called Salisbury Callies in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) alongside two Celtic youngsters who had been sent out to gain experience: Robert Hannah and Tommy Burns. Alan even had the distinction of scoring the winning goal in the Rhodesian cup final.
On his return from Africa, Alan learned that ex-goalkeeper and Dalry Thistle boss, Erik Sørensen had organised a move to Denmark for him to play for Odense Boldklub, but after a short stay in D,enmark he returned to Scotland.
Alan Johnstone, a plumber to trade, was a man of many clubs, but there is little doubt that most football fans will forever associate him with Irvine Meadow XI and in particular with that glorious Scottish Cup winning season.
Sadly, Alan Johnstone passed away on 16 May 2022. His name will live on at Meadow Park.