ON THIS DAY

News relevant to the club on this day previously

Richard Day looks back at news relevant to Gillingham FC on this day in history, games, players, debuts etc...

FIXTURES...

1897 - New Brompton 1-2 Bristol City          SLD1
Dave Hutcheson scored in this home defeat

1909 - Northampton T 7-1 New Brompton  SLD1
A John Reynolds penalty was hardly a consolation in this heavy loss

1920 - Exeter City 2-1 Gillingham                D3
Arthur Wood was on target as the Gills lost at St James Park

1926 - Watford 4-0 Gillingham                     D3S     Att: 6,010

1937 - Gillingham 2-3 Millwall                     D3S     Att: 9,831
Jimmy Watson and Tug Wilson scored but the Lions still won

1948 - Worcester City 2-1 Gillingham         SLD1   Att: 5,968
A Jackie Briggs goal wasn't enough at St Georges Lane

1954 - Northampton T 4-1 Gillingham        D3S      Att: 7,827
Ernie Morgan scored in this hefty defeat at the County Ground

1961 - Barrow 7-0 Gillingham                      D4        Att: 2,900
A bad day all-round ended as the Gills crashed at Holker Street

1963 - Gillingham 2-0 Carlisle Utd              D4        Att: 17,421
A George Francis effort and a Marsden own goal dispatched the Cumbrians home pointless

1965 - Swindon Town 0-1 Gillingham         D3        Att: 13,325
A Joe Butler own goal earned the points at the County Ground

1968 - Gillingham 2-0 Rotherham Utd       D3        Att: 5,533
Goals from Carl Gilbert and Brian Yeo defeated the Millers

1971 - Grimsby Town 2-1 Gillingham        D4       Att: 10,539
Brian Yeo found the net at Blundell Park but the Mariners took the points

1976 - Sheffield Wed 2-0 Gillingham          D3      Att: 15,306

1982 - Gillingham 2-1 Preston NE               D3     Att: 4,390
Neil Grewcock and Tony Cascarino were the scorers in this home triumph

1993 - Walsall 1-0 Gillingham                      D3     Att: 4,639

1999 - Gillingham 5-1 Wrexham                  D2     Att: 5,997
A Robert Taylor hat-trick plus further goals from Andy Thomson and Nicky Southall saw the Dragons snuffed out

2001 - Gillingham 0-2 Southampton           WC3   Att: 7,948

2007 - Gillingham 4-3 Luton Town              FLT   Att: 1417
Chris Dickson hit a hat-trick, and Mark Bentley took advantage of Chris Perry's 88th minute howler, to put the Gills through

2010 - Gillingham 2-1 Stockport Co      L2     Att: 4755
Cody McDonald and Jack Payne, his first senior goal for the club, put the Gills in a commanding position before the Hatters pulled one back in the closing stages.

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DEBUTS...

The following players made their Gillingham debuts in the above games...

1920 - Harold Wright at Exeter

1961 - John Jervis at Barrow

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BIRTHS...

1911 - Arthur Braillisford
The centre-forward was signed from Darlington in October 1937 making his debut at home to Walsall.

After four goals in 20 games (over two seasons) he joined Northern Ireland outfit Glentoran in the summer of 1939.


1957 - John Sharpe
The right-back cost Gills boss Gerry Summers £30,000 from Southampton in September 1978 making his debut at Tranmere Rovers soon afterwards.

After 228 appearances in six seasons a knee injury cut his Gills career short and despite attempted comebacks with both Southampton and Swansea City curtailed his playing days.


1973 - Junior Lewis
Junior had played at Fulham, Dover Athletic and Hendon before joining the Gills in July 1999 and he made his debut at Blackpool.

The following season it was his early goal against Wolves (see above) that saw the clubs first ever victory in the second tier of English football.

He scored eight goals in 81 appearances for Gillingham before following the Peter Taylor trail to Leicester City etc.

The lanky midfielder is now back at Hendon as player-coach.  


1974 - Charlie Mitten
The goalkeeper seems to have done his own tour of Kent as a player including making one appearance for the Gills. That came back in December 1999 against Torquay United in the Auto Windscreens Shield.

He is currently playing for Ryman League Division One (South) Maidstone United.