ON THIS DAY...

Richard Day reviews this day in the club's history

News relevant to Gillingham FC on this day in history, games, players, debuts etc...

FIXTURES...

1902 - New Brompton 0-0 Tottenham H  SLD1

1904 - Tottenham H 1-0 New Brompton  SLD1

1912 - New Brompton 1-0 Watford          SLD1
F Corbett hit the winner against the Hornets

1913 - Merthyr T 0-0 Gillingham               SLD1

1915 - Crystal Palace 1-0 Gillingham     SLD1

1920 - Southampton 2-0 Gillingham       SLD1

1924 - Gillingham 3-2 Southend Utd       D3S
Two goals from Tommy Hall and one from Joe North saw the Gills edge out the Essex side

1926 - Newport Co 4-0 Gillingham          D3S   Att: 5,500

1930 - Watford 4-1 Gillingham                 D3S   Att: 4,787
Thomas Brennan netted the consolation at Vicarage Road

1947 - Gillingham 1-1 Bath City               SLD1  Att: 8,061
A Johnny Warsap goal secured a point

1950 - Gillingham 2-0 Headington          SLD1   Att: 4,086
A brace from George Forrester won the Gills the points

1952 - Gillingham 1-0 Watford                D3S    Att: 9,578
Hughie Russell struck the only goal of the game

1958 - Gillingham 3-0 Walsall                 D3S   Att: 5,081
A Bill Guttridge own goal plus efforts from Ron Saunders and Bob Taylor proved too much for the Saddlers

1961 - Gillingham 'A' 0-1 Dover              Seanglian Lge

1969 - Mansfield T 2-0 Gillingham         D3     Att: 4,959

1975 - Brighton & HA 4-3 Gillingham    D3     Att: 10,497
The Gills succumbed to an odd-goal in seven defeat at the Goldstone Ground despite goals from Damien Richardson, a penalty, Brian Yeo and Dave Shipperley

1977 - Crystal Palace 3-1 Gillingham      D3   Att: 17,609
John Crabbe hit the target at Selhurst Park

1980 - Gillingham 2-2 Colchester U        D3   Att: 6,561
Goals from Ken Price and Steve Bruce earned a point with the U's

1991 - Gillingham 1-2 Tottenham H XI    Fr    Att: 469
David Jordan netted in this friendly defeat

1997 - Chesterfield 2-2 Gillingham          D2  Att: 3926
Steve Butler and Iffy Onuora were the scorers at Saltergate

1999 - Wycombe W 0-2 Gillingham        D2   Att: 6,688
The A-team of Barry Ashby and Carl Asaba found the net at Adams Park

2003 - Stoke City 0-0 Gillingham             C     Att: 12,746

2005 - QPR 1-1 Gillingham                       C     Att: 16,431
Michael Flynn put the Gills ahead but R's Paul Furlong levelled after the break

2008 - Millwall 1-1 Gillingham                 L1   Att: 10,006
A curling free-kick from Nicky Southall put the Gills ahead which the Lions later equalised

2010 - Gillingham 3-0 Southend U          L1   Att: 7,657
Three second-half goals from Dennis Oli, Rene Howe and Andy Barcham helped blitz the Shrimpers

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DEBUTS...

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

1930 - Thomas Brennan at Watford

1969 - Ken Osborn at Mansfield T

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BIRTHS...

1900 - Harry Wright

Harry joined the Gills in October 1920 from Welbeck Colliery and made his debut at Exeter City and went on to make 36 appearances for the club.

He then returned to the Nottinghamshire side which was located just a few miles from where he was born in the Derbyshire village of Staveley.

 
1967 - Mark Cooper

Having gone through the ranks with Cambridge United he had moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £50,000 in April 1987.

He failed to break into the first-team in his six months at White Hart Lane but then Keith Peacock paid a then club record fee of £102,500 for his services and he made his debut against Bristol Rovers at home.

It was in his second game, away at Preston, that he opened his goal account but never really found any form during his time at Priestfield.

Mark had scored 11 goals in 58 games before joining Leyton Orient for £21,000 in February 1989.

Spells then followed at Barnet, Northampton Town, Welling United, Bishops Stortford (loan) and Gravesend & Northfleet.
 

1968 - Alex Watson

The former Liverpool defender joined Gillingham on loan from AFC Bournemouth in September 1995 and after making his debut at Hereford United he went on to score one goal in 10 appearances for the club.

Shortly after returning to Dean Court he moved to Torquay United for £50,000 where he was to play 226 times before having spells at Exeter City, Taunton Town and Clevedon Town.

Earlier in his career he had joined his hometown club Liverpool as an apprentice and went on to make nine appearances for the Reds, including the 1988 Charity Shield game against Wimbledon at Wembley.

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DEATHS...

1968 - Thomas Millington

The outside-right came to Gillingham from Everton in March 1928 and made his debut at Brighton & HA.

After scoring twice in 40 games he returned Oswestry Town, from who he had joined the Toffees, in the summer of 1929.

It was in Oswestry that Thomas died on this day in 1968.