In goal for Gillingham was former Norwich City junior Mervyn Cawston who had been released by the First Division side after brief first team experience with them. After leaving the Gills midway through the current season to play in America he later notched up around 200 games for Southend United.
At right back was the experienced Bill Brindley who had been released by Notts County in the summer after being part of their rise from the Fourth to Second Divisions and who was later to have a spell as manager of Boston FC. Partnering him was the similarly experienced Eddie Spearitt who had played well over 200 games for Brighton before joining Carlisle from whom he had moved to Gillingham in the summer. Central defenders were Dave Shipperley and Nigel Williams. Shipperley had previously been with Charlton Athletic and was later to return to them. His currently two-year-old son Neil was later to have a career as a striker with several clubs in the top two divisions in the 1990s and later. The 22-year-old Williams was a former Wolves apprentice who had joined in the summer and was normally a right back but filling in for the injured Dave Galvin.
In midfield the local-born Dick Tydeman was often a thorn in City’s side and in two spells would go on to play almost 400 games for the Gills. Also in midfield was former Aston Villa youth John Overton, yet another player to have joined in the summer after a handful of appearances for the Midlands club and a spell on loan at Halifax. On the right was 19-year-old Bill Fogarty who had broken into the side for the second half of the previous season but was making what was to be his only appearance of the current campaign, joining Dover at the end of the year. After brief experience with his first club West Ham and Bristol City the left winger Joe Durrell was in his second and last season with Gillingham.
In attack, current leading scorer with six goals was Dublin-born Damien Richardson a player who was to finish his career with three Republic of Ireland International caps and 100 goals in around 350 games for Gillingham. He went on to become manager of the club for a time before successful spells in charge of several Irish clubs. Alongside Richardson was Danny Westwood, in his second season with the club after being a prolific scorer for Billericay Town and making a solitary appearance for Queens Park Rangers. Substitute was Gary Armstrong an 18-year-old left back who had made just one first team appearance.
The attendance of 6,053 was slightly up from Gillingham’s previous home game and was their second highest of the season so far in the league.
The first ten minutes of the game belonged to Gillingham, but with Dennis Booth, assisted by Dave Smith, increasingly taking control of the midfield the tide was turned. City from then were only troubled by the dashing runs of left winger Joe Durrell who had the beating of City right back Ian Branfoot for pace.
Some heat came into the game, with referee Ray Lewis of Great Bookham calling the respective captains Sam Ellis and Dick Tydeman together just before half time in a bid to calm things down. He had earlier incensed the crowd by cautioning Gillingham striker Damien Richardson for dissent and failing to take action for a bad tackle by Ellis on the same player.
After the break Percy Freeman missed a good chance for City but in the 69th minute set up the winning goal when he shielded the ball well under pressure before turning it into John Ward’s path for his fellow striker to hit his fifth goal of the season. City were well deserving of what should have been a more convincing victory although there was a late scare when Richardson put the ball over the bar in the 89th minute when faced with an open goal.
I remember very little of the match but my player ratings show I thought Phil Hubbard was man of the match, with above average performances by Peter Grotier, Sam Ellis and John Ward. I also vaguely remember the quaint old stand dating back to the 1890s and the oldest still in use in the Football League.
The win moved City up to 7th place and three wins and a draw later they were as high as 3rd, before some inconsistent results saw them spend the winter around mid-table before an improvement which never quite saw them challenge for a promotion place as they finished 9th. Gillingham slipped two places to 13th and a run of six defeats in a row towards the end of the year saw them as low as 17th before they recovered to finish three places below the Imps
Does anyone remember way way back. Gillingham put on an awful negative display at Sincil Bank and for several matches after the cry “Gillingham!” would come from the crowd if our opponents passed back, no doubt to the bewilderment of the visiting team and fans.