ON THIS DAY

1897 - Swindon T 0-3 New Brompton      SL

Two goals from Bill Ford and another from David Skea earned a victory in Wiltshire

1909 - Croydon C. 0-2 New Brompton    SL  

Albert Court and John Reynolds netted in this away win against the Common-ers

1920 - Merthyr Town 6-1 Gillingham       D3

Tommy Thompson was the Gills scorer in a hefty defeat

1926 - Newport County 1-0 Gillingham   D3S

1935 - Bristol Rov. 4-3 Gillingham         D3S  Att: 5,471

William Baldwin and William Duncan (2) couldn't prevent the Pirates taking the points

1937 - Exeter City 3-5 Gillingham         D3S  Att: 5,846

A goal from 'Tug' Wilson plus two apiece from Fred Smith and Cyril Walker saw the Gills come out on top in this eight goal thriller.

1946 - Guildford City 2-1 Gillingham     SLCQ

Bill Hales scored in this cup defeat

1948 - Gillingham 2-0 Yeovil Town        SL       Att: 8,514

A Tommy Kingsnorth penalty plus a goal from Hughie Russell were enough to beat the Glovers

1954 - Gillingham 2-1 Swindon Town    D3S    Att: 12,125

Trevor Long and Bill Evans scored tobeat the Robins

1956 - Brentford 3-2 Gillingham           D3S    Att: 15,603

James Taylor scored twice but it didn't stop defeat at Griffin Park 

1957 Gillingham 3-0 Crystal Palace      D3S    Att: 6,324

Joe Hutton, Brian Payne and a Noakes own goal saw the Gills ease to victory over the South Londoners 

1963 Gillingham 1-0 Lincoln City          D4      Att: 6,949

This was the only goal scored by Geoff Hudson in his Gills career

1965 - Gillingham 2-2 Watford             D3      Att: 7,908

A Charlie Rackstraw penalty plus a Brian Gibbs goal ensured a home point

1971 - Gillingham 1-0 Hartlepool Utd    D4      Att: 5,477

Brian Yeo scored and ensured a long journey back to the North-East for United

1972 - Mansfield Town 2-0 Gillingham   D4      Att: 5,399

1973 - Rotherham Utd 1-1 Gillingham   D4      Att: 3,757

Brian Yeo was again the marksman at Millmoor

1974 - Gillingham 1-0 Bury                 D3      Att: 4,824

The winner was scored by centre-half Kenny Hill

1976 - Gillingham 2-1 Portsmouth       D3      Att: 6,873

A penalty from Damien Richardson and a diving header from Mark Weatherly quietened those Pompey Chimes 

1979 - Gillingham 1-0 Wimbledon       D3      Att: 8,074

John Crabbe got the goal that sealed the points

1982 - Wrexham 1-0 Gillingham         D3     Att: 2,122

1984 - Hull City 2-0 Gillingham           D3     Att: 5,240

1993 - Shrewsbury T 2-2 Gillingham   D3     Att: 2,811

Paul Baker and a Richard Green penalty saw the Gills return from Gay Meadow with a point

1999 - Gillingham 0-2 Preston NE       D3     Att: 6,610

2001 - Gillingham 2-3 Wolves            D1     Att: 8,966

Goals from Guy Ipoua and Marlon King (penalty) couldn't stop Wolves winning at Priestfield

2002 - Nottm Forest 4-1 Gillingham    D1     Att: 16,073

Andy Hessenthaler scored the Gills consolation at the City Ground

2004 - Reading 3-1 Gillingham           C       Att: 13,867

Darren Byfield was on target in the defeat at the Madejski Stadium

2010 - Bradford C 1-0 Gillingham      L2      Att: 10,722

2012 - Gillingham 1-0 Southend U     L2      Att: 4,920
Danny Kedwell netted from the spot as 10-man Gillingham held on following Bradley Dack's red card

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

1920 - Albert Carter, Fred Howard and George Needham all at Merthyr T

1935 - George Pybus away at Bristol R

1974 - Dave Chadwick versus Bury

2010 - Stanley Aborah at Bradford

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1904 - Fred Liddle

The outside-left came to Gillingham from Newcastle United in July 1932 and made his debut on the opening day of the season at Brighton.

He went on to score 19 goals in 88 appearances before, in the summer of 1934, he moved on to Coventry City.

1936 - Gordon Pulley

Left-winger Gordon Pulley had played for hometown club Stourbridge, Oswestry Town and Millwall before Harry Barratt signed him for Gillingham in May 1958.

 

He made his debut on the opening day of the 1958-59 season, ironically against Millwall and just seven days later opened his goalscoring account in a 2-1 away win against Walsall.

He was here at Priestfield Stadium for more than seven years, making 222 appearances and scoring 51 goals, in all competitions and he lies twelfth in the all-time list of Gillingham's league goalscorers with 46 goals to his name.

In November 1965 he joined Peterborough United but returned to Kent in October 1968 for spells with Ramsgate Athletic and Folkestone and later managed Sheppey United. 

1960 - Colin Ford

Colin progressed through the ranks from apprentice to professional here at Priestfield and was a regular in both the youth team and the reserves. 

He made just one first-team appearance away at Plymouth Argyle in January 1980.

Spells followed at various Kent sides and later coached at Herne Bay.

1971 - Paul Smith

The former Southend United youngster cost £195,000 when he joined the Gills from Brentford in July 1997.

The experienced midfielder made his debut in the home game with Preston NE and went on to make a total of 399 appearances in two spells.

He later played for Walsall, Swindon Town and Torquay United  plus a number of non-league sides and was at one point player-coach at Margate under former Gillingham team-mate Barry Ashby.

1983 - Dean Beckwith

Dean graduated through the youth ranks at Gillingham but only ever made two first-team appearances, both of which were as substitutes, his debut coming at Portsmouth in the FA Cup at Portsmouth in January 2005.

After leaving Priestfield in the summer of 2005 he played for Hereford United, Northampton Town and Luton Town before joining current club Eastleigh.