The Glasgow cup started with a 6-0 home win over Ibrox Thistle and a bye in the second. This was a season of big turnarounds, and in the third round it was our turn to show character by coming from 1-4 down at Gilmour Thistle to win 7-4. Now that is what you call a half-time team talk. We were eliminated in the quarterfinal against Jordanhill 2-4 at Saracen Park. In the Scottish cup we defeated Govan club Moor Park 3-0 in the first round but we went out in the second when Benburb defeated us 2-4 at Kelvinvale.
We were beaten at home in the first round of the North Eastern cup by Coventry Athletic, but after a protest we were awarded a replay which we won 6-0. In round two we were paired with a club called Rangers (not Glasgow Rangers) we were to easily defeat them 8-1. Round three saw Phoenix Athletic visit Maryhill and again we triumphed, 4-2 this time. Saracen Park was not to be a happy hunting ground for us and in our semi-final there we were comprehensively beaten 5-1 by Strathclyde.We beat Ashfield 3-0 in the quarterfinal on the Glasgow Charity cup at home but lost in the semi to Jordanhill 1-3, again at Saracen. Perthshire defeated us in the Maryhill Charity cup 1-3 and this game was to cost us our Glasgow League place, not much charity in those days. Our star player was our centre forward Beveridge but he went Senior before the end of 1895. On 11 April we lost 0-7 at Cambuslang Hibs, this won them the league title. Our full record in this first season of the Glasgow League was - Played 14 Won 5 Drawn 3 Lost 6 For 47 Against 47 Points 13 - an average of almost 7 goals per game.
Season 1900/01 - The season opened with us as holders of the Scottish Junior cup, Glasgow Charities cup and Maryhill Charity cup. Our previous season's league campaign however, had been a disaster with only two wins and a total of 7 points. We started the ten-club league with victories over Perthshire 3-2, Cambuslang Hibs 7-0 and Co-operative United 5-1. Our first defeat was to come at Saracen Park againstAshfield 1-3 we were not to lose in the league again until 25 May when Cambuslang Hibs avenged their earlier 7-0 thrashing by beating us 1-2 which was to cost us an outright league title. In fairness this was a re-arranged game and in the match which was abandoned in November they were leading 4-1 with only six minutes to go. In those days neither goal difference nor goal average were used to decide tied leagues and a play-off was arranged after we had tied on points with Parkhead. The play-off took place at Meadowside on 1 June and ended 2-2 and as that date was the official end of the season both clubs shared the title.
Our Glasgow cup campaign started and ended with Cambuslang. Round 1 saw Hibs come to Lochburn and they were unlucky not to win but a 3-3 score saw the clubs try again at Cambuslang. This time we were on form and won 3-1 setting up a visit from Strathclyde and a W.Lennie hat trick saw is easily go through 5-0. A visit to Cambuslang, this time to face the Rangers variety was to see us play poorly and we were easily beaten 0-3. Our defence of the Glasgow Charities cup started against Perthshire on 30 April, a 2-2 draw at Kelvinside Park saw the sides meet again at Lochburn on 6 May, another draw, 1-1 this time saw the tie go to a third game. This was played at Meadowside two days after our Scottish defeat, we showed little stomach for it and lost 1-2. Around that time we lost our grip on the Maryhill Charity cup losing 3-1 to JordanhillThe first round of the North Eastern cup saw Glasgow United comprehensively beaten 9-0 which saw us rewarded with a home tie against Hillhead on 23 February. I can only assume that we were supremely confident of beating them as we took this game despite W.Lennie and Lang playing for Scotland in their 3-0 success over Ireland that day. If that was the case then our confidence was well founded as we won 5-1. In the next round we travelled to Cambuslang to play Rangers but the game never took place as the home side would not play, claiming that they had not been given enough notice of the match. I cannot find any further record of us playing in this competition and can only assume that perhaps we withdrew due to our fixture pile up in May.
Our defence of the Scottish cup started at Dundee on 25 August against the Violet, we turned in a strong performance and returned 2-1 victors. The second round saw us again travel but this time only as far as Bellshill. The game was played on 8 December and was abandoned after 30 minutes with the scores level at 0-0. The re-arranged game took place two weeks later with the same score, setting up a replay at Lochburn the following week 29th. We ran out easy winners with goals from W.Lennie 2, Swift and Haggerty contributing to a 5-1 scoreline. Round 3 took place on the next Saturday 5 January against Larkhall Thistle and two W.Lennie goals secured a 2-0 win at Lochburn.Amazingly the 4th round was the next week 12 January and a short trip up to Kirkintilloch where we saw off the Rab's 4-1, Lynn, Lang and two from Swift. A trip to Newmilns was our reward in round 5 on 9 February and in a tight encounter a late second goal saw our 400 travelling fans travel back on their chartered train ecstatic and with us narrowly avoiding a replay. Again our quarterfinal was the following week and Darvel were to be our visitors. Two Lang goals set up an easy 3-0 win but an upheld protest from Darvel meant the game had to be replayed. This took place on 16 March and again we were too strong for them and goals from W.Walker (pen), McDonald and Lang contributed to a fine 5-1 success and set up a semi-final against Renfrew Victoria at Meadowside. Over 7000 amassed there on Saturday 13 April and in a close encounter we were to prevail by the odd goal in three with W.Lennie getting both. The final took place at the Exhibition Ground on 11 May, by all accounts of the game we played well but looked a tired and worn out side and succumbed to Burnbank Athletic 0-2.
On 17 May the main sports paper of the day 'The Scottish Referee' carried the following paragraph.
"I must again express a feeling of sympathy for the Maryhill lads. They have unquestionably been the team of the year, but now, when the closing stages of the competition have been reached the players are completely tired out and are but a shadow of what they were a couple of months back."
Season 1903/04 - Our league season got off to a flier with two away victories at Strathclyde and vale of Clyde but we were brought back to earth with a derby reverse 0-1 to Perthshire. Another run of fivesuccessive wins, the last 3-1 at Petershill on the first Saturday in October was in front of a 5000 crowd which saw us head the table. Our local rivals however, were not going to do us any favours in our quest for the title and in that same month we drew 0-0 at Ashfield and the game at Lochburn was abandoned after 86 minutes with our visitors 4-1 ahead, this result was allowed to stand. We picked up again and our next defeat was not until January when Ashfield again beat us at Lochburn 2-4 this time in a North West League game. The North West League consisted of the four clubs who currently make up our Beaton's cup section and was used in seasons where the weather was good and the fixtures were all up to date. It was also a healthy money earner as the four local clubs all commanded large crowds........to be continued
