1977-78 was a season to remember because on Saturday October 1st 1977 whilst I was watching non-league Maidstone United at their London Road ground news came through that the Gills had won 3-1 at Plymouth Argyle (Richardson 2 (1 pen), Price) and we were, for the first time in the club’s long history, top of Division 3! It was a wonderful feeling and it was to happen twice again during the season.
The league campaign, however, started with a dreadful 3-1 home defeat to Colchester United (Westwood).
The following week, however, we travelled to the Abbey Stadium (surely one of the worst ever league grounds at the time) where we beat Cambridge United in an exciting game 3-2 (Westwood 2, Hughes). This was followed up with an impressive 4-1 home victory over Bradford City (Westwood 2, Nicholl, Richardson). The next game, however, was a 2-0 reverse at Hereford United. We then embarked on an eight match unbeaten run (4 wins, 4 draws) which saw us climb to the top of the table on that memorable day in October.
We stayed top for two weeks but were to regain top spot twice over the next four months when we only lost two games, away at Preston North End (2-0) on 15th October and away at Swindon Town (2-3 Westwood, Overton) on 5th November.
Then on my birthday, Saturday 12th November 1977, a 1-0 (Price) home win over Exeter City saw us embark on a 15 match unbeaten run (a club record).
The run lasted until March 1st when we lost 2-1 (Westwood) at soon to be relegated Bradford City.
For some reason Gillingham always had poor results in the month of March but this defeat at Valley Parade we thought was just a blip, the curse of March was not going to hit us this year. We were wrong; Gills only won two of their remaining 14 matches! These were a home win over Preston North End (2-1 Price, Westwood) on Saturday 11th March 1978 and a home victory against Sheffield Wednesday (2-1 Westwood, Young) on Saturday 15th April 1979. This dreadful sequence of results saw us slip down to our final position of 7th.
So where did it go wrong?
Well obviously that run through March and April did not help but we drew too many games (20 out of 46) and we only won 4 times on our travels. The good news was we were becoming something of a force, on our own patch, only losing twice at Priestfield (the first league game of the season against Colchester United as mentioned and an embarrassing 4-1 (Price) defeat at the hands of Bury on Tuesday 7th March 1978). Other good news was that our three forwards all finished the season having scored double figures. Ken Price 19, Danny Westwood 17 and Damien Richardson 12 (5 pens).
Another Gillingham “trait” is our failure to beat sides down the bottom. Unbelievably the bottom side of Division 3 this season was Portsmouth. We managed to draw 0-0 at home and 1-1 (Weatherly) at Fratton Park. Portsmouth, are now of course, a reasonably established Premiership side just 27 years later. This is why we love the game so much and why the fans have dreams of playing in the top flight!
Meanwhile in the League Cup we were knocked out in the First Round by league newcomers Wimbledon. We became their first ever opponents as a league side because back in 1977 - the first round was played over two legs in the week before the league season started. We drew 1-1 at home (Westwood) and lost 3-1 (Price) at Plough Lane.
We fared little better in the F A Cup struggling to knock out non-league Weymouth after drawing 1-1 (Westwood) down on the south coast before beating them 1-0 (Shipperley) in the replay at Priestfield. In the 2nd round we drew 1-1 (Nicholl) at home with Peterborough United but lost the replay 2-0 at London Road.
Overall an enjoyable league season which promised much. We were so near but yet so far from the promised land of Division 2, but we had flirted with the top of the league and us Gills’ fans liked it, we liked it a lot.
(Next time: - The Gills are Going Up?)