Armstrong Matt Image 4 Aberdeen 1937

Description

Newton Stewart, Dumfries & Galloway born centre forward Matt Armstrong joined Aberdeen from Port Glasgow Athletic Juniors in July 1931 having spent time on the books of Glasgow Celtic in 1930-31. He made his Scottish League debut for Aberdeen in a defeat at Falkirk that November but was on the fringes of the first team until breaking through in the 1933-34 season when he notched 14 goals in only 12 League appearances, and from then he was the club top scorer at Pittodrie for four consecutive seasons between 1934-35 and 1937-38, scoring 126 goals in those seasons alone, forming a prolific partnership with Willie Mills and also scoring Aberdeen’s goal in the 1937 Scottish Cup Final against Celtic, which they lost 2-1.

He was first selected for Scotland in a 1-1 draw against Wales at Ninian Park in October 1935 and won two further caps against Ireland in November 1935 and Germany in October 1936. He also played 3 times for The Scottish League, scoring once, over the same period.

Described at the time as “as slippery as an eel” and “a grand opportunist”, his career was severely interrupted by the Second World War’s outbreak in 1939 and he continued to play occasional wartime games for Aberdeen appearing in every wartime season except 1940-41. Armstrong also made 41 World War Two guest appearances, scoring 27 goals for London side Clapton Orient between the 1940-41 and 1942-43 seasons.

Returning to Pittodrie when peacetime football resumed in 1945-46 Armstrong scored 8 goals in 13 appearances, and in total he scored 164 goals in 232 appearances for Aberdeen, and was the club record scorer before Joe Harper broke his record 50 years later. He subsequently joined Queen of the South in March 1946 where he scored 13 goals in 27 appearances before moving to Elgin City as player-coach in July 1947, staying for three seasons before joining Peterhead in May 1950, his final club before his retirement from the game.