These unseen images mark the night Dunfermline Athletic upset the odds and fought back twice to gain a point against “British champions” Rangers.
Might they even have won the game?
The photos have lain in DC Thomson’s Kingsway archives for 35 years and were never developed from negatives – until now.
Not in his wildest, poem-penning, dreams could Pars manager Jim Leishman have expected to snatch a point from the midweek Ibrox game on December 15 1987.
Dunfermline did not have their troubles to seek.
So far that season, in two league games and a Skol Cup tie, Rangers had knocked in 12 goals against Dunfermline with only a penalty as consolation for the Pars.
Tom Carson was between the sticks at Ibrox following his emergency loan signing after first-choice goalkeeper Ian Westwater was injured in a car accident.
His first game was a 4-1 defeat against St Mirren at Love Street that left the Pars third bottom so the last team Leishman wanted to face must have been Rangers.
Graeme Souness’s champions were on a five-game winning streak domestically and reached the quarter-final of the European Cup following victory against Górnik Zabrze.
There was also the small matter of the Gers winning the Dubai Super Cup the previous midweek, beating Everton 8-7 in a shoot-out to be crowned British champions.
“Anything we get from a game like this is a bonus but we have two very important games coming up we must do well in,” said Leishman.
“It is absolutely vital that we beat our own teams in our own league at the bottom, like Morton and Motherwell.
“However, Rangers are one of the best teams in Europe and it’s going to be really tough but there are one or two weaknesses in their side which we will be looking to exploit.”
Leishman had a dream against Celtic
Leishman was certainly no stranger to upsetting a more fancied rival.
At the age of 29, he took charge of his boyhood heroes in 1982 and forged a side that won successive promotions to the Scottish Premier Division in 1987.
Dunfermline started the season unbeaten, a run that included a 2-1 victory against Celtic at East End Park in August 1987 after Leishman’s “soap-box psychology” team-talk.
Leishman borrowed the words of Martin Luther King to add weight to his pre-match exhortations and it certainly worked against a side that arrived with a 100% record.
A more unstable pattern of results followed this positive start to the campaign and the Pars had been drawn into a relegation fight by the time they arrived at Ibrox.
The small band of travelling fans from Fife paid £4 and £3 at the cash turnstiles with 31,000 fans inside Ibrox on what was a bitterly cold evening in Govan.
Rangers: Woods, Nisbet, McGregor, Roberts, Wilkins, Gough, Cooper, Fleck, McCoist, Durrant, Ferguson (Souness).
Dunfermline: Tom Carson, Graeme Robertson, Bobby Smith, Norrie McCathie, Gary Riddell, John Holt, Mark Smith, Ross Jack, Billy Kirkwood, Craig Robertson, Stuart Beedie.
Dunfermline created the first opening of the match when midfielder Craig Robertson played the ball through to Stuart Beedie on the edge of the Rangers box.
Beedie ran through on goal but was stopped by a good tackle from Graham Roberts.
There were decent openings at each end with Ally McCoist turning the ball just past Carson’s goal and Mark Smith looking dangerous down Dunfermline’s right flank.
Rangers went ahead on 10 minutes when Davie Cooper and Ian Durrant combined to set up Derek Ferguson whose close-range strike gave Carson no chance.
The setback didn’t stop Dunfermline’s momentum.
Mark Smith sent Ross Jack through on 19 minutes but, for a second time, a tackle by Roberts prevented the former Dundee man from getting in a decent effort.
Smith’s speed and dribbling skills were giving the home side big problems.
Robert Fleck should have made life easier for Rangers following a poor backpass from Stuart Beedie but the striker sliced the ball high and wide with only Carson to beat.
Dunfermline drew level on 33 minutes when Richard Gough lost the ball in midfield.
The Pars broke away on the counter-attack and Mark Smith went on another great run down the right before crossing for Beedie who was unmarked at the back post.
Beedie controlled the ball and struck low past Chris Woods.
The Pars fans turned up the volume.
Rangers piled on the pressure from the restart and Billy Kirkwood was booked for a foul on Fleck 25 yards out with half-time approaching.
Free-kick specialist Davie Cooper was just off the mark with his effort.
Both sides had their chances to grab the lead before the break with John McGregor heading narrowly past at one end and Jack bringing a fine save from Woods at the other.
Rangers player/manager Graeme Souness brought himself on at half-time for his first league appearance in eight matches, in an attempt to spark more life into his side.
He replaced goalscorer Derek Ferguson and the change nearly worked.
McCoist headed a ball across to Fleck on the six-yard box but he was well shepherded by John Holt and when he finally turned his shot was straight at Carson.
The intense Ibrox pressure was building and Fleck had another good chance when Nisbet headed to him but, again, the chance was spurned when he headed wide.
Rangers started to pick up the pace with the crowd as their 12th man but Dunfermline matched them at every turn and looked dangerous themselves on the break.
But there was heartbreak for the Pars on 71 minutes.
Bobby Smith cleared a Richard Gough header off the line following a corner from Cooper but McCoist was there to knock in the rebound with Carson beaten.
Dunfermline fought back desperately now that they were behind and it paid off three minutes later when Cooper brought down Beedie on the edge of the box.
Bobby Smith took the free-kick and managed to pick out Craig Robertson, whose spectacular header at the far post levelled things up again at 2-2.
Rangers threw Richard Gough up front but, despite frenzied attacking, they found themselves thwarted at every opportunity by the dogged Pars rear-guard.
Dunfermline might even have won it with time running out.
Graham Roberts was called on again to make a saving tackle when Mark Smith made a 60-yard run to the edge of the Rangers box after beating three men.
Dunfermline’s chance to become (unofficial) British champions was gone, although the point gained at Ibrox certainly felt like a victory given the odds against them.
The Pars were relegated from the Premier Division in 1987/88 but, by way of compensation, they did finally get their revenge on Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
The 2-0 win at East End Park on February 20 1988 – over a Rangers team that included Trevor Francis – was the Pars’ first victory over the Ibrox side since 1972.
