Greig Andrew Image 1 Darlington 1922

Description

Aberdeen born goalkeeper Andrew Greig began his football career with junior club Mugglemoss before joining  Aberdeen in August 1910, making his Scottish League debut against Queen’s Park in September 1911, keeping a clean sheet as Aberdeen won the match 3-0. The Scotsman reported that “Greig appeared in goal for the home team, and got an encouraging reception, which ultimate events proved to be well deserved.”. He was regularly in the Aberdeen goal for the next three seasons before his military service during the First World War made his appearances sporadic between 1915 and 1917.

After 78 appearances for The Dons he had a spell on loan with Raith Rovers in February 1917 before joining Darlington Forge Albion in 1918, which was established to represent the town of Darlington in the 1919 Northern Victory League after Darlington F.C. had folded during the War. He was ever present in that competition, and remained with the club as they adopted the Darlington name and its place in the North Eastern League.

He played in their 2-0 defeat of First Division club Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup, in front of 52,388 spectators at Hillsborough in January 1920. The Daily Express reported that Greig was “tested with all manner of shots, but always emerged triumphant”, and that he and his full-backs were “as sound a defence as one could wish for”. He contributed to the team’s North Eastern League title the following year, which confirmed the club’s invitation to join the new Football League Third Division (North). He made his Football League debut in a 3-0 defeat of Barrow on 5th November 1921, and retained his place, keeping John Ward out of the team, until April 1922 when he broke his arm during a match at Southport. Darlington finished League runners up, narrowly missing out on promotion.

He regained his regular starting place for the next two seasons, taking his appearance totals to 105 for The Quakers, but the club’s financial problems meant they had to let players leave, and Greig joined non league Shildon for the 1924-25 season before he returned to Scotland, playing first with Peterhead during 1925-26 before finishing his career at Montrose, whom he joined in August 1926.