1984–85 Gillingham F.C. season

Gillingham suffered a heavy defeat in November at Bootham Crescent (pictured in 2021), home of York City.

Gillingham's first game of the season was at home to Newport on 25 August; Oakes made his debut against his former club and Hinnigan also played his first game for Gillingham. The match ended in a 1–1 draw; Tony Cascarino scored Gillingham's first goal of the season.[15] A week later, he scored again as the team gained their first win of the campaign, defeating Orient 4–2; Shearer made his debut as a substitute.[15] Victories against Cambridge United and Wigan Athletic, in both of which Cascarino scored, meant that after four games Gillingham were top of the Third Division league table.[15][16] On 18 September, Gillingham were defeated for the first time during the season, losing 2–0 away to Hull City,[17] but then won their next two league games and were third in the table at the end of September.[15][18]

In the first match of October, Gillingham were 3–0 down to Plymouth Argyle in the second half but scored three goals, including two in the last five minutes, to secure a draw.[19] The team then lost three consecutive league games, culminating in a 5–2 defeat away to Brentford.[15] Martin Robinson, a forward newly-signed from Charlton Athletic, made his debut on 13 October against Bristol City.[15][20] David Fry, the club's reserve goalkeeper, replaced the injured Ron Hillyard for the Brentford game, and retained his place until late November.[15][21][22] Gillingham defeated Reading on 23 October to record their first win for five games,[15] and were moments away from beating Bradford City four days later but conceded a last-minute equaliser.[23] The team's first match of November was away to York City and resulted in a 7–1 defeat; it was the first time Gillingham had conceded seven goals in a game since 1961.[24] The poor run of results meant that the team had slipped to 11th out of 24 teams in the Third Division.[25]

Robinson scored his first goal for the club to secure a 1–0 win away to Burnley on 6 November, which would prove to be the first of four consecutive league victories.[15] Shearer scored the winner in a 2–1 victory at home to Rotherham United and repeated the feat as Gillingham won by the same score away to Bolton Wanderers on 24 November, the first time Bolton had lost a Third Division match at home since August.[26] Hillyard returned to the team against Bolton and made his 450th appearance for Gillingham.[15][21][22] Shearer extended his run of scoring in consecutive league games with two goals in a 4–0 win at home to Preston North End on 1 December, which took Gillingham back up to third in the table.[15][27] The team's winning run came to an end with a 2–0 defeat away to Lincoln City on 15 December;[28] a week later Gillingham beat Doncaster Rovers 1–0 despite having to play more than half the game with only ten players after John Leslie had to be substituted and subsequently John Sharpe also went off injured.[29] The team's final home match of 1984 was against Derby County on 26 December; the attendance of 7,140 was the highest of the season for a Third Division match at Priestfield Stadium.[30] Gillingham won 3–2 despite having Mehmet sent off; the midfielder angrily pulled off his shirt and threw it at the referee as he walked off the pitch.[7] Three days later the team beat Bristol Rovers 4–1, their seventh win in eight league games,[15] and ended 1984 second in the table.[31]

Jim McDonagh (left) joined the club on loan after Ron Hillyard was injured.

The team's first match of 1985 was a 2–0 defeat away to AFC Bournemouth on 1 January. Gillingham finished the game with only nine players after both Terry Cochrane and Shearer were sent off; it was the first time in the club's history that two Gillingham players had been dismissed in the same game.[32] Eleven days later, Jeff Johnson was the fourth Gillingham player to be sent off in less than three weeks when he was dismissed in a 2–0 win over Orient; Shearer was injured in the same game and would not play again until March.[15][33] Robinson scored both goals in the victory,[34] and also scored in the team's first two league games of February, a draw with Swansea City and a win over York City.[35][36] Hillyard again suffered an injury against Hull City on 26 February which was expected to keep him out of the team for up to six weeks.[37] Fry took his place and conceded only one goal in the next three games,[15] which included a 2–0 win over Brentford on 9 March during which Mehmet scored from the first penalty kick awarded to Gillingham since the previous May.[38] Victory over Newport County on 12 March meant that Gillingham had won 12 out of their last 16 league games and were second in the table.[15][39]

Gillingham's unbeaten run came to an end with a 3–1 defeat to Bristol City on 16 March; Fry was dropped for the next game and replaced by the Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper Jim McDonagh, whom Peacock had signed on loan from Notts County.[15][40] Another new signing, defender Dave Rushbury, made his debut on 23 March against Millwall,[41] a game which Gillingham lost 2–1.[42] A draw against Burnley, who were struggling near the bottom of the table, left Gillingham in fifth place at the end of March, two positions below the places which would result in promotion.[43][44] Derek Hales, a veteran forward signed from Charlton Athletic, made his debut against Burnley in place of Shearer, who had suffered another injury in the match against Millwall.[15][42][45] Gillingham beat Cambridge United on 2 April to end a run of four games without a win, before losing to Derby four days later, after which they were in fourth place.[15][46]

Hales scored his first goal for the team in a 3–2 victory over AFC Bournemouth on 9 April.[15] Four days later Gillingham played Rotherham United, who were in poor form having won only once in their previous eleven league games;[47] Rotherham won 1–0 meaning that Gillingham failed to reduce the gap between themselves and third-placed Millwall, who also lost.[48][49] Gillingham beat Walsall 1–0 on 16 April, but a defeat and a draw in their next two games meant that they were again in fifth place at the end of April.[15][50] Hillyard returned to the team for the game at home to Lincoln City on 4 May. Gillingham were losing the match 2–1 with five minutes remaining, but then scored twice to secure a 3–2 victory, although the win did not improve their position in the table.[15][51][52] A 3–2 defeat against Bristol Rovers on 7 May meant that, even though Gillingham beat Doncaster Rovers four days later, they were now ten points off third place with only two games left and therefore a maximum of six more points available, making promotion an impossibility.[15][53] Shearer returned to the team for the penultimate game of the season, a 2–0 win away to Reading.[15] It was Gillingham's tenth league win of the season away from home, a new club record.[54] The team's final game of the season was at home to Wigan Athletic; Shearer, who had not scored a goal in his previous six appearances, scored Gillingham's only league hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 victory.[15][55] Gillingham finished the season in fourth place and thus missed out on promotion by one place.[56]

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• Bateson, Bill; Sewell, Albert, eds. (1986). News Of The World Football Annual 1986–87. London: Invincible Press. ISBN 978-0-85543-076-4.
• Bradley, Andy; Triggs, Roger (1994). Home of the Shouting Men: Complete History of Gillingham Football Club 1893–1993. Gillingham: Gillingham F.C. ISBN 978-0-9523361-0-5.
• Brown, Tony (2003). The Definitive Gillingham F.C.: A Complete Record. Nottingham: Soccerdata. ISBN 978-1-899468-20-1.
• Dunk, Peter, ed. (1985). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86. London: Queen Anne Press. ISBN 978-0-35610-872-8.
• Dunk, Peter, ed. (1986). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1986–87. London: Queen Anne Press. ISBN 978-0-35612-334-9.
• Elligate, David (2009). Gillingham FC On This Day. Durrington: Pitch Publishing. ISBN 978-1-9054-1145-0.
• Hugman, Barry (2005). The PFA Premier and Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. London: Queen Anne Press. ISBN 978-1-85291-665-7.
• Triggs, Roger (2001). The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-75242-243-5.

{{1984–85 in English football}}