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...

NEWS…


1952 - Forward Derek Lewis joins Preston North End for a club record fee of £12,999


FIXTURES…

1901 - Watford 2-1 New Brompton        SLD1
M Neyland scored his first goal for the club at Vicarage Road

1907 - QPR 3-0 New Brompton              SLD1

1924 - Gillingham 1-0 Bournemouth     D3S
Horace Williams netted the only goal of the game

1935 - Exeter City 2-0 Gillingham          D3S   Att: 4,220

1946 - Gillingham 4-1 Ramsgate Ath   KSC2
Goals from Tug Wilson (2), Dave Thomas and Stan Trumper proved too much for the Rams

1952 - Gillingham 4-4 Crystal Palace  D3S   Att: 11,991
Doubles from Derek Lewis and Bill Hales were only enough for a point

1957 - Crystal Palace 1-2 Gillingham  D3S   Att: 11,410
Ron Clark and amateur Jim Watts, who netted his only goal for the club, won the points at Selhurst Park

1963 - Gillingham 2-2 Workington       D4     Att: 6,519
The Reds took a point despite goals from George Francis and Jim Towers

1980 - Exeter City 3-1 Gillingham        D3    Att: 3,427
A Ken Price effort was a mere consolation against the Grecians

1993 - Chesterfield 1-1 Gillingham        D3   Att: 2,721
Richard Green earned a point at Saltergate

1999 - Millwall 1-0 Gillingham              AWS  Att: 11,555
The Lions won this Southern semi-final on a golden goal in extra-time

2002 - Arsenal 5-2 Gillingham               FAC5   Att: 38,003
Arsene Wenger was forced to bring on the  'big guns' after Marlon King and Ty Gooden had stunned Highbury by equalising after Sylvain Wiltord and Kanu had twice put the Gunners ahead. Once Thierry Henry and Robert Pires had been introduced Arsenal took control and added further goals through Wiltord, Tony Adams and Ray Parlour.

2007 - Northampton T 1-1 Gillingham  L1   Att: 5,618
Dean McDonald put the Gills ahead but the Cobblers hit back with a late equaliser

2008 - Northampton T 4-0 Gillingham  L1   Att: 4,978
Two goals from Adebayo Akinfenwa were added to by Jason Crowe and Giles Cloke as Town romped to victory

2013 - Gillingham 2-1 Dagenham & R  L2   Att: 5,611
Leon Legge, his first goal for the club, and Deon Burton were on target against the Daggers

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DEBUTS...

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

1924 - Bill Berry and Tommy Williams at Bournemouth  

1963 - Jim Towers versus Workington at home

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BIRTHS...

1958 - David Crown

Born in Enfield, David had played for Grays Athletic, Walthamstow Avenue, Brentford, Portsmouth, Exeter City (loan), Reading, Cambridge United and Southend United before arriving at Priestfield in June 1990.

Gillingham boss Damien Richardson paying the Shrimpers £50,000 for the 32-year-old and the forward made his debut as a substitute for Peter Heritage in the home game against Maidstone United in September 1990.

His first goal for the Gills came in a 2-1 win at Halifax Town two months later and continued to hit the net consistently.

In the 1991-92 campaign David was the top scorer with 25 goals which included hat-tricks against both Northampton Town and Walsall in respective 3-1 and 4-0 wins.

Fitness problems then began to hamper him and after making 100 appearances in which he'd scored 47 goals for the club David then quit league football.

However he didn't hang up his boots and went on to play for Dagenham & Redbridge, Purfleet, Aylesbury United, Sudbury Town, Billericay Town and Concord Rangers before returning to Purfleet (now Thurrock) as coach and assistant manager.

He also later returned to Southend United for a spell as assistant manager to Rob Newman and is a regular on the commercial side at Roots Hall.


1965 - Wayne Stokes

The central defender joined the Gills in July 1982 when he was released from his apprenticeship by Coventry City following a month's trial.

He appeared in the Gills youth and reserve sides before making the first of just three first-team appearances against Bristol Rovers at home in May 1983.

After leaving Priestfield he played for Aylesbury United, Worcester City and Gloucester City before later returning to the Football League with Stockport County and Hartlepool United.