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 - Tottenham H 2-0 New Brompton     SLD1

1899 - Chatham 2-2 New Brompton     CCC

1905 - New Brompton 1-1 Plymouth A     SLD1
Joe Turner scored to dent the Pilgrims progress

1909 - New Brompton 1-1 Brentford     SLD1
Former Watford forward John Reynolds ensured a point was gained

1915 - Reading 1-0 Gillingham     SLD1

1920 - Gillingham 2-4 Crystal Palace     SLD1
B Read and a Arthur Wood penalty weren't enough to secure a point

1926 - Bristol City 4-0 Gillingham     D3S     Att: 10,569

1937 - Notts Co 2-0 Gillingham     D3S     Att: 20,821

1948 - Gillingham 4-1 Lovell's Ath     SL     Att: 8,175
Tug Wilson (2), Wally Akers and Hughie Russell were all on target as the Gills eased to victory

1954 - Gillingham 1-3 Aldershot     D3S     Att: 10,627
A Paddy Sowden goal wasn't enough in this Priestfield defeat

1958 - Northampton T 3-1 Gillingham     D3S     Att: 2,412
A goal from Les Riggs couldn't prevent a reversal at the County Ground

1959 - Gillingham 3-0 Aldershot     D4     Att: 7,430
John Edgar, Ron Bacon and Pat Terry all struck against the struggling Shots

1964 - Gillingham 2-0 Aldershot     D4     Att: 12,179
Ron Newman scored and Denis Hunt converted a penalty to secure the points

1967 - Gillingham 1-0 Oldham Ath     D3     Att: 5,940
Brian Yeo hit the winner against the Latics

1970 - Gillingham 1-1 Bradford C     D3     Att: 7,347
Brian Yeo was again on target, this time with the second-half equaliser

1971 - Gillingham 2-1 Rotherham Utd     D3     Att: 2,955
Tommy Watson and Brian Yeo yet again helped the Gills come from behind to take the points

1976 - Gillingham 2-0 Chester     D3     Att: 4,983
Graham Knight put the Gills ahead in the first-half before Mark Weatherly doubled the lead

1978 - Portsmouth 1-1 Gillingham     D3     Att: 8,108
Another Mark Weatherly effort helped the Gills gain a point at Fratton Park

1979 - Rotherham Utd 1-1 Gillingham      D3     Att: 3,239
Danny Westwood scored for the Gills at Millmoor

1982 - Gillingham 2-0 Bristol R     D3     Att: 5,100
A Dean White penalty was added to by Ken Price as the Pirates were sunk

1984 - Newport Co 1-0 Gillingham     D3     Att: 1,849

1989 - Fulham 1-2 Gillingham     D3     Att: 6,476
A Gavin Peacock double saw the Gills victorious by the Thames

1993 - Darlington 1-1 Gillingham      D3     Att: 2,404
Steve Crane struck his one and only goal for the Gills at Feethams

1999 - Luton Town 1-0 Gillingham     D2     Att: 6,705

2004 - West Ham Utd 2-1 Gillingham     C      Att: 34,551
Danny Spiller was the Gills scorer at Upton Park either side of goals from Bobby Zamora and Matty Etherington

2010 - Gillingham 2-2 MK Dons     L1     Att: 5,465
The Gills trailed twice but goals from Adam Miller and Andy Barcham secured a point

2011 – Cheltenham T 1-2 Gillingham     L2     Att: 3,157
A late double from Cody McDonald saw the Gills grab all three points at Whaddon Road

2012 – Burton A 1-0 Gillingham     L2      Att: 1,623


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DEBUTS...

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

1964 - John Meredith versus Aldershot

1988 - Alan Walker away at Notts Co


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BIRTHS...

1917 - Charlie Campbell

Charlie, who was born in Chatham, joined the Gills from Gillingham Nomads in June 1937 but had to wait until the Division Three (South) Cup trip to Millwall in November before making his debut.

Due to the lack of information available about teamlists in the Kent Regional League (1939-40) it is uncertain how many games he actually played for the club having previously featured in both the Division Three (South) and Southern League.


1971 - Adrian Pennock

Having played for Ipswich Schoolboys and the Suffolk County side, he joined Norwich City on associate schoolboy forms in November 1986 and progressed through the ranks at Carrow Road but only ever made one senior appearance, that was in a 4 - 1 defeat at Southampton in February 1990.

The Ipswich born defender  had a spell on loan in Norway with Molde later that year but eventually joined Bournemouth for £30,000 in August 1992.

He quickly established himself at Dean Court and went on to be a regular for three seasons before suffering a bad knee injury at Brighton in December 1995 which kept him out for over a year.

After scoring 10 goals in 160 games for the South Coast side Tony Pulis gambled in bringing him to Priestfield for £25,000 in October 1996. It was a gamble that was to pay off as he spent the next seven seasons at the club.

His debut came the following month in a Fourth Round Coca Cola cup tie at home town club and boyhood heroes Ipswich Town.

Although he had injury problems while with the Gills he still managed a total of 203 appearances including of course the Play-Off Finals with Manchester City and Wigan Athletic at Wembley, skippering the side in the 1998-99 game with City.
 
Ade was very much a crowd favourite and the chant "He only scores own goals!" became the cry from the Adrian Pennock Fan Club, as well as many other Gillingham fans during his time with the club and he loved the adulation.

In January 2003 he made the decision to retire from the senior game following an eleventh operation on the knee injury he'd sustained earlier in his career and he signed for Gravesend & Northfleet.

He played a few games for the 'Fleet and stepped up to assistant manager in October 2003 before managing Conference South side Welling United.

At the end of the 2006-07 campaign he left Park View Road and followed former boss Pulis to Stoke City where he is currently first-team coach.


1984 - Gavin Grant

The winger joined Neale Cooper's Gills in December 2005 and made his debut as an 84th minute substitute for Akwasi Fobi-Edusei in the 3-0 home win against Port Vale.

He made 10 appearances for the club, nine of which were as a sub, before moving to Millwall.

Gavin made a handful of appearances for the Lions, then Grays Athletic, Stevenage, Wycombe Wanderers and Bradford City.

In July 2010 he was convicted of a murder that happened in May 2004 and received a life sentence.