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...


1899 - Chatham 1-1 New Brompton            T&MC

1905 - New Brompton 1-1 Northampton T  SLD1
John Morris found the net against the Cobblers

1911 - New Brompton 1-0 Swindon T          SLD1
John Reynolds was the match-winner here

1933 - Exeter City 2-1 Gillingham                  D3S   Att: 7,309
The Gills goal at St James Park came from Bill Armfield

1939 - Exeter C Res 1-3 Gillingham             SLD1
Harry Rowley, Edwin Scott and Tug Wilson were all on target in this away victory

1950 - Barry Town 0-3 Gillingham            SLD1   Att: 171
Bill Burtenshaw scored two and Harold Williams added the other as the Gills strolled to victory in South Wales

1961 - Crystal Palace 2-0 Gillingham       D4   Att: 22,559

1961 - Gillingham 'A' 4-1 QPR                   Seanglian Lge

1967 - Brighton & HA 2-2 Gillingham        D3   Att: 11,112
Goals from Brian Yeo and Brian Gibbs earned a point at the Goldstone Ground

1972 - Gillingham 4-2 Reading                D3   Att: 4,351
Spurs loanee Roy Woolcott, Brian Yeo, Alan Wilks and Kenny Hill were the marksmen against the Royals

1978 - Rotherham Utd 2-0 Gillingham   D3   Att: 3,731

1980 - Gillingham 1-0 Hull City                D3   Att: 4,161
Colin Duncan nabbed the only goal of the game

1986 - Gillingham 1-1 Plymouth Arg     D3   Att: 3,490
A Tony Cascarino effort wasn't enough against the Pilgrims

1989 - Bury 1-0 Gillingham                      D3   Att: 4,313

1995 - Gillingham 1-3 Walsall                   D3   Att: 3,757
Adrian Foster scored the home consolation

2000 - Gillingham 1-0 Oxford Utd             D2   Att: 6,966
Junior Lewis notched the only goal

2003 - Gillingham 1-4 Nottingham F           C    Att: 7,277
A Rod Wallace effort was little consolation as Forest won easily

2008 - Brighton & HA 4-2 Gillingham         L1   Att: 6,836
An Andrew Crofts double was little help at the Withdean as both Garry Richards and Sean Clohessy were dismissed

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DEBUTS...

The following player made his Gillingham debut in the above games...

1995 - Darren Freeman versus Walsall

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BIRTHS...

1900 - Horace Rowden

The centre-half joined Gillingham from Chatham Centrals in August 1920 but had to wait until Boxing Day 1921 before making his debut against Northampton Town at Priestfield.

In three seasons with the club he made a total of just nine appearances.


1935 - Ronnie Bacon

Born in Fakenham, Ronnie played for Holt United and Norwich City before arriving at Gillingham in May 1958.

He made his debut on the opening day of the following season when Millwall were the visitors to Priestfield.

The winger was with the club for a three-year spell, scoring 15 goals in 139 matches.

Ronnie left the Gills in the summer of 1961 and went on to give Kings Lynn great service before ending his career at Downham Market.


1968 - Graham Westley

The former England Youth international joined Gillingham in March 1986 having been released by QPR at the end of his apprenticeship.

He made his debut in the final game of the season against Bristol Rovers but only added one further substitute appearance.

In the summer of 1987 he moved to Barnet and went on to enjoy a decent spell  in non-league football before embarking on a managerial career after buying a controlling interest at Farnborough Town.

During his second spell at Stevenage he led the club into the Football League and then took them into League One at the first time of asking.

In January 2012 he left the Lamex Stadium and took over at fellow League One outfit Preston North End but he was sacked from that post last month.