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...

1900 - Portsmouth 5-1 New Brompton   SLD1
Jack Frettingham netted the consolation

1906 - New Brompton 0-0 Norwich C    SLD1

1909 - New Brompton 1-0 Q.P.R          SLD1
Arthur Pickett scored the only goal of the game

1923 - Bristol Rovers 1-0 Gillingham    D3S

1928 - Brighton & HA 0-0 Gillingham   D3S    Att: 7,860

1932 - Q.P.R 7-0 Gillingham              D3S    Att: 3,881
The  Gills lost heavily at White City Stadium

1934 - Bristol City 1-1 Gillingham    D3S    Att: 6,890
A Dennis Roberts own goal earned the Gills a point

1948 - Gillingham 2-1 Barry Town   SLD1
J Nobbs hit both in this home win

1949 - Chingford 0-3 Gillingham       SLD1
George Forrester, George Dorling and Johnny Warsap were all on target in an easy win

1951 - Gillingham 0-1 Newport Co    D3S   Att: 9,040

1956 - Torquay U 1-1 Gillingham       D3S   Att: 5,644
Dave Hawkins netted to earn a point on the English Riviera

1962 - Colchester U 6-0 Gillingham   D4   Att: 4,503

1969 - Hartlepool 1-1 Gillingham       D3   Att: 2,401
Gordon Riddick scored for the Gills at Victoria Park

1971 - Gillingham 0-0 Aston Villa       D3   Att: 10,812
The Villains one and only league visit to Priestfield Stadium ended in stalemate

1973 - Reading 3-1 Gillingham            D4    Att: 5,369
A Damien Richardson effort wasn't enough at Elm Park

1974 - Stockport Co 2-0 Gillingham    D4   Att: 1,940

1979 - Gillingham 2-1 Oxford Utd       D3   Att: 6,065
Goals from John Overton and Mark Weatherly proved enough to overcome the U's

1984 - Gillingham 1-3 Walsall              D3    Att: 4,544
A Tony Cascarino goal wasn't enough against the Saddlers

1987 - Bristol City 2-0 Gillingham      FRTSSF   Att: 10,540

1992 - Cardiff City 2-3 Gillingham        D4      Att: 8,521
Richard Green scored twice on his debut and David Crown added the other in this victory at Ninian Park

2001 - Bolton W 3-3 Gillingham             C       Att: 13,161
A Marlon King double plus one from Nicky Southall was only enough for a point at the Reebok

2007 - Gillingham 1-0 Crewe Alex          L1    Att: 6,373
Michael Flynn launched a tremendous 25-yarder to win the points

2009 - Gillingham 1-0 Darlington           L2      Att: 4,730
Simeon Jackson struck the winner deep into injury time to keep the promotion bid alive

2012 – Gillingham 3-4 Crewe Alex.         L2     Att: 5,428
Despite goals from Jack Payne, Chris Whelpdale and Ashley Miller, his first for the club, wasn’t enough to secure a point
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DEBUTS...

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

1925 - Arthur Sykes versus QPR at home

1928 - Arthur Dominy and Thomas Millington at Brighton

1932 - George Kidd against QPR at Loftus Road

1974 - Dave Wiltshire away at Stockport

1992 - Richard Green at Ninian Park against Cardiff

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BIRTHS...

1920 - Harry Ayres

The former Fulham forward joined the Gills in the summer of 1950 where manager Archie Clark moved him into a wing-half role.

He made his Gillingham debut against Colchester United on the opening day of the 1950-51 campaign which was the game that saw the club return to the Football League.

Harry went on to make 143 appearances for the club before moving to Sittingbourne in May 1955.


1921 - Hughie Russell

Born in Redcar, Hughie played locally with South Bank and Bishop Auckland before joining the Royal Engineers (Barton Stacey).

It was in the summer of 1946 that manager Archie Clark brought him to Gillingham from the Army.

The centre-forward made his debut in a 4-3 home Southern League win over Bath City on the opening day of the 1946-47 season and his first goals for the club came in the shape of a hat-trick in his fourth game, a 6-1 win at Worcester City in September.

During that season further trebles were added against Guildford City, Woolwich Poly and Millwall Reserves, he scored four in a remarkable 6-6 draw at Barry Town which saw the home side claw back a 5-0 half-time.

However these goalscoring exploits paled into insignificance when on November 9 Hughie set an individual club record by netting a stunning nine times in a 12-1 victory over Gloucester City at Priestfield.

That campaign proved to be a great one for the club winning the Southern League, Southern League Cup and Kent Senior Shield with Russell notching an incredible 48 goals in total.

He remained a regular scorer over the next few seasons adding hat-tricks against Barnet, Erith & Belvedere, Exeter City Reserves, Hereford United, netting four against Barry Town and five against Torquay United Reserves.

Hughie was one of the players that went full-time when the Gills won their place back in the Football League during the summer of 1950.

He found things tougher at this level and only managed two goals in his 21 league games and found himself being challenged for his place.

Then in April 1952, at Ipswich Town, Russell sustained a neck injury that was to force his retirement from the game.

He had scored a massive 143 goals for the Gills in all competitions but it wasn't his last involvement with the club as he later returned as trainer.


1963 - Mark O'Connor

Previously with QPR, Exeter City (loan), Bristol Rovers and AFC Bournemouth, Mark joined the Gills for the first time in December 1989 for £70,000.

He made his debut away at Exeter shortly afterwards and scored his first goal in a 3-1 win against Doncaster Rovers the following month.

In his first spell he played as a winger and played 141 times before re-joining the Cherries in the summer of 1993.

Tony Pulis brought him back to Priestfield in July 1995 but then four months later a horror challenge against Fulham left the midfielder with leg broken in two places.

In all he managed to take his overall total to 10 goals in 189 appearances before being forced to retire.

Mark has since followed Pulis to Bristol City, Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle and is now the first-team coach at Stoke City.
 
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DEATHS...

1973 - George Shaw

The right-back joined Gillingham from Rossington Main Colliery in August 1920 and made his debut when Merthyr Town visited Priestfield the following month.

He made just three appearances for the club though and in June 1922 he was signed by Doncaster Rovers and later played for Huddersfield Town before enjoying a long spell at West Bromwich Albion.

While at the Hawthorns he made more than 400 appearances and twice appeared in the FA Cup Final, winning one against Birmingham City and losing the other to Sheffield Wednesday. He was also selected once for England.

He was player/manager at Stalybridge Celtic and Worcester City before having a successful stint with Maltese side Floriana. 

George died at the age of 73 in Doncaster on this day in 1973.