During the season, 18 'friendly' matches were played, including home and away fixtures against Vale of Leven, Hearts, Rangers, St Bernards and Cowlairs, a win over Ayrshire Cup holders Kilmarnock Portland, and a north of England 'tour' which took in three matches during the New Year holidays.

Source:[23] An international trial match was played on 3 March 1883 to consider selection of teams to represent Scotland in the upcoming games against England and Wales.

Dumbarton competed in the Scottish Second XI Cup, anxious to repeat their success of the previous season.

Reports on these matches are sketchy, no doubt due to the overwhelming local interest in the Scottish Cup progress at the same time, but Dumbarton lost out at the semi-final stage to eventual winners Kilmarnock Athletic.

R Lindsay, Tom Veitch, G Galbraith, James Liddell, McIntyre and R Anderson were all selected to play for 'Dumbarton' in a 1-1 draw.