During the 1985–86 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system. It was the 54th season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 36th since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. After an unbeaten run of seven games, Gillingham were fourth in the league table in late September, just outside the top three places which would result in promotion to the Second Division. After slipping to ninth in October, the team climbed to third, but at the close of 1985 had fallen again to eighth. Although Gillingham continued to challenge for promotion in the second half of the season and were in second place at the end of January, their form continued to fluctuate. As the end of the season approached, the team were still in with a chance of finishing in a promotion position, however three defeats in the last six games meant that they ultimately fell short, finishing in fifth place.
Gillingham also competed in three knock-out competitions, reaching the third round of the FA Cup, the second round of the Football League Cup, and the southern section semi-finals of the Associate Members' Cup. The team played 58 competitive matches, winning 27, drawing 16, and losing 15. Tony Cascarino was the club's leading goalscorer for the second consecutive season, scoring 21 goals in all competitions. Ron Hillyard, Mel Sage, and Karl Elsey made the most appearances; all three played in all 58 of the team's competitive games. The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 8,983 for an FA Cup game against Derby County in January.
Background and pre-season
The 1985–86 season was Gillingham's 54th season playing in the Football League and the 36th since the club was elected back into the League in 1950 after being voted out in 1938. It was the club's 12th consecutive season in the Football League Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system, since the team gained promotion from the Fourth Division in 1974. In the 11 seasons since then, the team had achieved a best finish of fourth place, one position away from promotion to the Second Division, a feat achieved in both the 1978–79 and 1984–85 seasons. The club had never reached the second level of English football in its history.
Keith Peacock was the club's manager for a fifth season, having been appointed in July 1981. Paul Taylor served as assistant manager, John Gorman was newly-appointed to the role of coach, and Bill Collins, who had been with the club in a variety of roles since the early 1960s, held the posts of first-team trainer and manager of the youth team.
Peacock signed two new players before the season started. Karl Elsey, a midfielder, arrived from Cardiff City on a free transfer and David Byrne, a winger, joined the club from semi-professional team Kingstonian of the Isthmian League. During the break between seasons, the club spent installing new executive boxes within Priestfield Stadium's main stand. Work also needed to be undertaken to satisfy new safety requirements following the Bradford City stadium fire two months earlier. This was not completed in time for the club's first friendly match of the pre-season, against Queens Park Rangers, which was therefore played behind closed doors. The team's first-choice kit consisted of blue shirts with a white panel down each side, white shorts and white socks. The away kit, to be worn in the event of a clash of colours with the home team, comprised red shirts, black shorts and black socks.
Third Division August–December
The team's first game of the Third Division season was away to Lincoln City on 17 August; Elsey made his debut in the starting line-up. Gillingham finished the game with ten men after Terry Cochrane was sent off and lost 1–0. Seven days later the team played their first home league game of the season at Priestfield against Darlington; Mel Sage scored Gillingham's first league goal of the season in a 1–1 draw. For the second consecutive game Gillingham had a player sent off, as Peter Shaw was dismissed. Two days later, Gillingham won their first league game of the season, defeating Bristol City 2–1 away from home with two goals from Tony Cascarino, and ended August by beating Bolton Wanderers by the same score at Priestfield. Gillingham extended their unbeaten league run to seven games with draws against Notts County and Chesterfield and wins over Wigan Athletic and Bury, after which they were fourth in the league table.
Gillingham's unbeaten Third Division run ended with a 2–1 defeat at home to York City on 28 September and the team also lost the first game of October, being defeated 3–0 away to Plymouth Argyle. After the two defeats, Gillingham had slipped to ninth in the table. The team won consecutive games in mid-October against Cardiff City and AFC Bournemouth before losing 2–1 at Priestfield against fellow promotion contenders Derby County. Gillingham's last game of October was at home to Swansea City; top goalscorer Cascarino was suspended after being sent off in a Football League Cup game. Despite his absence, the team won 5–1, their biggest win of the season so far. Dave Shearer scored the team's only hat-trick of the season. The result left Gillingham sixth in the table, albeit only one point behind second-placed Blackpool.
The team were undefeated in five league games in November, including three consecutive victories in which they scored a total of 12 goals. On 9 November, Gillingham scored five goals for the second consecutive home game, beating Walsall 5–2, and followed the win by defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–1 away from home and Doncaster Rovers 4–0 at Priestfield, after which the team were third in the table, behind second-placed York only on goal difference. The unbeaten run ended with a 1–0 defeat away to Bristol Rovers on 14 December and Gillingham then lost 3–2 away to Darlington six days later. The team ended the year with a 1–1 draw at home to Bristol City; Cascarino scored Gillingham's goal to take his total of league goals for the season to 10. The result left Gillingham eighth in the table at the end of 1985, four points below the three promotion places.
January–May
Gillingham began 1986 with an away game against Reading, who had lost only twice in 24 Third Division games and were top of the table, 19 points clear of second-placed Derby. Goals from Byrne and Elsey gave Gillingham a 2–1 victory over the league leaders. Wins away to Bolton Wanderers and at home to Lincoln City took Gillingham up to second in the table. The team began February with a 4–0 win at home to Notts County and a 2–0 victory against Bournemouth. Gillingham remained unbeaten until the end of February, taking their total of consecutive Third Division games without defeat to nine; Peacock was awarded the Third Division Manager of the Month award for February. On 1 March, Gillingham were defeated for the first time in 1986, losing 2–0 away to York. This game was the first in a run of six consecutive matches without a win, which resulted in Gillingham dropping to fifth in the table.
Cascarino suffered a serious injury in the defeat to Brentford on 18 March and would miss the remainder of the season. Shortly before the transfer deadline, the last date in the season on which clubs could sign new players, two players signed for Gillingham. David Tong, a midfielder, joined the club from Bristol City on a short-term contract until the end of the season and Dale Tempest, a forward, arrived on a one-month loan from Huddersfield Town. Both went straight into the starting line-up for the game at home to Reading on 29 March. Tempest scored two goals in a 3–0 victory which made Gillingham the only team of the season to defeat the eventual Third Division champions both at home and away. Gillingham followed the result with a second consecutive victory, beating Brentford 2–1, to end March third in the table. The team achieved a third consecutive win when they beat Rotherham United 3–0 on 4 April before their winning run ended with a defeat away to Derby, which was followed immediately by another against Walsall. Commenting on the match against Derby, Simon O'Hagan of The Times wrote that Gillingham, who could normally be "dangerously inventive", were hampered by terrible weather conditions. The next game finished 4–1 to Walsall, the most goals Gillingham had conceded in a game since November 1984. The result left Gillingham in fifth place, two points off the promotion places, although they were at a disadvantage as they had played at least two games more than all the teams above them.
Gillingham won their next two games but then lost 1–0 at home to Newport County on 29 April; midfielder Dave Mehmet took over in goal during the game when Ron Hillyard was injured. It was the first time the team had failed to score in a home game since a defeat to Burnley in March 1984; the run of 62 consecutive home games in which the team scored at least one goal was a new club record. The result, along with those achieved on the same night by Plymouth and Wigan, left Gillingham four points below the promotion places and therefore, with only one game remaining and a maximum of three points available, unable to finish in the top three. In the final game of the season, Gillingham defeated Bristol Rovers 2–0 at home with goals from Martin Robinson and Mehmet; the second goal was the 102nd scored by the team during the season in all competitions, the highest figure in a single season since the club joined the Football League. The team finished 5th in the Third Division, five points short of promotion.
Match results Key
In result column, Gillingham's score shown first H = Home match A = Away match
pen. = Penalty kick o.g. = Own goal