IN the second of his articles about footballers in the Cowdenbeath area who made a name for themselves, historian David Allan focusses on Jim Paterson, who scored a lot of goals for St Johnstone and Cowden.

James Paterson was born in Foulford Road, Cowdenbeath, on June 15 1905. His father was a miner named Alexander Paterson. His early career path took in spells with Causewayhead United and the Bridge of Allan club, Strathallan Hawthorn.

He attracted senior scouts after joining Camelon Juniors and was signed by Everton. However, Jim soon recrossed the Border to sign for St Johnstone.

He was in and out of the St Johnstone first team despite being a fairly regular goalscorer when he was given a place in the side.

In 1930, he was freed by the Perth club and Cowden signed him as a replacement for Duncan Lindsay. Paterson was to prove to be one of Cowdenbeath’s best ever bargains.

Jim was not a powerfully built player but he was resilient and quick in both thought and action. His speed off the mark brought him many goals. His forte was scoring goals and 54 League goals over his 2 seasons with Cowdenbeath summed up his ability. At the end of season 1930/31, Jim played in the Home Scots v Anglo Scots match at Newcastle and scored both of the Home Scots goals in a 3-2 defeat.

Paterson was then selected for the Scotland squad which was to tour Europe in the summer. Jim played in all three of Scotland's matches to become Cowdenbeath's most capped player - a 5-0 defeat by Austria in Vienna, a 3-0 defeat by Italy in a match watched by Mussolini, and a 3-2 win over Switzerland.

At the end of the following season, Aberdeen came on the scene and sought his signature. However, Leicester City intervened and their bid of £2,250 was successful. Jim Paterson then spent the rest of his career in England. At Filbert Street, he spent three seasons and scored 18 goals in 49 games. He then had three years with Reading and a season with Clapton Orient.

Jim then returned home to live in Scotland and he died in Bridge of Allan in 1978.

His son Alex Paterson was the tennis doubles partner of Roy Erskine, the ex-Cowdenbeath centre half and grandfather of Andy Murray.

Alex also had a football career. He made his debut for Stirling Albion v Rangers in 1954. His immediate opponent was Scotland centre half Willie Woodburn who had recently been warned by the SFA after the third sending off of his career.

Woodburn was nursing a leg injury and in the last minute he went in for a challenge with Paterson and won the ball. Paterson’s tackle though caught Woodburn on his injured leg. A face to face confrontation ensued with Paterson giving as good as he got in terms of ‘verbals’.

Woodburn snapped and head butted Paterson. This action was to end his career. Willie was famously suspended sine die by the SFA after this latest sending off.

Alex Paterson himself was rocked by the furore that followed his debut and his career was more or less over after 24 games in the next two years for Albion.