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...


1897 - Gravesend U 4-0 New Brompton    SLD1

1899 - New Brompton 1-1 Tottenham H    SLD1
Former Northfleet forward Tom Grieve was the marksman here

1909 - New Brompton 2-1 Brighton & HA  SLD1
Alf Whyman and Walter Eames were the scorers against Albion

1915 - Bristol R 2-1 Gillingham                SLD1
Sam Gilligan found the net at Eastville

1920 - Gillingham 0-0 Portsmouth           SLD1

1926 - Brighton & HA 1-2 Gillingham        D3S    Att: 9,612
Former Erith & Belvedere centre forward Reg McKee netted both to earn the Gills victory

1937 - Bristol City 2-0 Gillingham            D3S    Att: 7,803

1948 - Gillingham 4-0 Gloucester City      SL      Att: 6,701
Hughie Russell, Tug Wilson, Wally Akers and Jackie Briggs all found the net

1954 - Gillingham 3-0 Walsall                 D3S    Att: 9,473
Jimmy Boswell, Ernie Morgan and Billy Evans eased the Gills to victory

1965 - Gillingham 0-0 Mansfield T           D4     Att: 11,846

1968 - Grimsby T 1-1 Gillingham            D3     Att: 3,319
Gordon Riddick was on target at Blundell Park

1971 - Brighton & HA 3-1 Gillingham      D3     Att: 10,794
Birmingham City midfielder Micky Darrell scored the only goal of his loan spell with the Gills at the Goldstone Ground

1971 - Gills Res 0-1 QPR                       FC

1976 - Port Vale 1-1 Gillingham             D3    Att: 3,516
Joe Durrell got on the scoresheet at Vale Park

1984 - Oxford Utd 0-1 Gillingham          D3    Att: 7,654
Phil Cavener hit the only goal against the U's

1993 - Gillingham 1-0 Carlisle Utd         D3    Att: 3,422
Neil Smith earned the win with the only goal of the game

1999 - Wigan Ath 4-1 Gillingham           D2    Att: 4,248
A goal from on-loan Kevin Lisbie was only a consolation at Springfield Park

2004 - Preston NE 0-0 Gillingham          C     Att: 13,111
Winger Matt Jarvis made his full debut as an injury-hit Gills gained a point at Deepdale

2010 - Stockport Co 0-0 Gillingham       L1    Att: 3,894
Keepers Owain fon Williams and Alan Julian came out on top in a lacklustre contest

2012 - Gills XI 0-1 Wycombe W XI         Fr
A Max Kretzschmar header seperated the teams in this 'behind closed doors' reserve friendly at Priestfield
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DEBUTS...

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

1954 - Harold Kirman versus Walsall

1971 - Micky Kent at Brighton

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BIRTHS...

1922 - Jimmy Boswell

Jimmy spent almost his entire career with Gillingham, here was here at Priestfield for over 12 years as a player before returning for another five-year spell as first-team coach. He also had two games as caretaker boss before Basil Hayward was named as manager in the mid-Sixties.

A true Gillingham great, his staggering record of 527 appearances in all competitions makes him fourth in the club's all-time appearance table.

He began his playing career on the books of his hometown team Chester City as an amateur but the outbreak of the Second World War saw him joining the Royal Engineers and Boswell guested for Sheffield Wednesday in some unofficial wartime fixtures.

Following a posting to Barton Stacey in Hampshire he came to the attention of Gills manager Archie Clark who had been keeping a close on the Engineers' performances and Boswell made his Gillingham debut in a Kent Senior Cup tie at home to H.M.S Robertson on January 12 1946 before signing for the club at the War's conclusion in the summer of 1946.

Having won the Kent League, the Gills continued upwards the following season as they secured the Southern League Division One Championship in 1946-47, were runners-up again the following year before clinching the title again in 1948-49.

The club then won re-election into the Football League in the summer of 1950, by which time Jimmy had been appointed club captain. A crowd of 19,525 were here at Priestfield for the first game back against Colchester United in August 1950 as Boswell making his Football League debut.
 
He remained a virtual ever-present throughout Gillingham's first eight season's back in the League, while his tally of 36 FA Cup appearances set a new record for the club.

His last Gills appearance came in a 1-1 draw with Coventry City at Highfield Road in April 1958 and the long-serving wing-half called time on his Priestfield career shortly afterwards, aged 36, moving to Gravesend & Northfleet in the summer of 1958 before enjoying further spells with other Kent sides Tonbridge Angels and Canterbury City.

In 1964, he returned to Priestfield as trainer and would enjoy five seasons back at the club, including a brief spell as caretaker-manager which followed the resignation of Freddie Cox in January 1966.

He later went on to coach the Kent Police side and manage Chatham Town.


1977 - Brent Sancho

The defender played much of his early career in the United States playing for a number of clubs before moving to Scottish outfit Dundee in August 2003.

After making 55 appearances for the Dark Blues he joined the Gills two years later and made his debut as a 68th minute substitute for Alan Pouton against Bournemouth at home.

He went on to play in 50 games for Gillingham and while at Priestfield he was part of the Trinidad & Tobago squad that qualified and played in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, and in all he played 43 times for his country.

Short spells at Millwall and Ross County followed before he returned to the U.S.A and has played for Atalanta Silverbacks and Rochester Rhinos.

He is currently Chief Executive Officer of T&T side North East Stars.