The Latics and the Gills have met on 39 occasions down the years, you can’t separate us, with sixteen wins apiece and seven draws.
The first meeting between the two clubs came in the 1982/83 season following our first ever promotion as a Football League club. We travelled to Kent on the 27th November and came back with all the points courtesy of a two-nil win, the goals coming from Kevin Langley (15) & David Lowe (65), a very young and inexperienced Latics side doing us proud.
We lined up that day with Roy Tunks in goals, a back four of John McMahon, Steve Walsh, Colin Methven and Alex Cribley, midfield consisted of Kevin Langley, Mark Shaw, Jimmy Weston and Kevin Sheldon, with David Lowe and John Butler up front.
Included in the Gills team was legendary keeper Ron Hillyard, plus Micky Adams, Steve Bruce and Tony Cascarino.
The return fixture at Springfield Park in April 1983 saw Gillingham race into a two goal lead by half time, Adams (14) and David Mehmet (39) on the score sheet, but an Eamonn O’Keefe penalty on the hour mark, followed by a Graham Barrow goal four minutes later gave the Latics a share of the points.
Down the years the two clubs have had some great tussles, two that definitely stand out for me are the 1987 FA Cup 3rd tie at Springfield Park and the 2000 playoff final at Wembley.
The FA cup tie was a bitterly cold day, 19th January, in front of a hardy 3,549 fans. I vividly remember the Gils starman, Tony Cascarino not only wearing gloves, but also black tights, just one look and you could tell he didn’t fancy it. Goals from Chris Thompson and Bobby Campbell gave the Latics a 2-1 win over their 3rd Division rivals and saw us march onto a 4th round tie against top flight Norwich City.
The 2000 playoff final at Wembley was a game packed with incident and drama, we had a legitimate goal from Arry De Zeeuw ruled out for not crossing the line, it was clearly 2 yards over, Latics had also hit the bar when a close range effort from Simon Howarth smacked the woodwork.
Carl Asaba had put Gillingham ahead, despite the Latics dominance, Simon Howarth equalised with a delightful flick and the game headed for extra time, but not before Latics left back Kevin Sharp was sent off in the dying embers of the 90 minutes.
Extra time, even with 10 men the Latics looked the most likely to score, and they did, Darren Sheridan was upended in the box, substitute Stuart Barlow stepped up and crashed home to give us the lead and looking likely to win the game, unfortunately two late efforts put paid to that and Gillingham ran out 3:2 winners on the day, but what a great game and occasion it was.
Last season the Gills competed the double over us, 2:3 at the DW in September and a 1:0 win at the Priestfield Stadium at the end of March, though how we didn’t get something out of that game I’ll never know.
Last campaign Gillingham managed to do the double over us, winning 2:3 at the DW early season and 1:0 at the Priestfield.
Last Time Out – Gillingham 0:2 Wigan Athletic
At the beginning of October, the Latics put in a great 2nd half performance in pouring rain to brush aside the Gills on their own patch, Max Power and Will Keane scoring to ensure we got our first win at the Priestfield in almost 20 years.
Standout Game
7th January 2016, Latics coming back from a two goal deficit against 2nd place Gillingham to get our season running at full steam and derail theirs, a game full of character for us.
Full Record v Gillingham
Played – 39
Won – 16
Drawn – 7
Lost – 16
The Last Six Meetings
|
Date |
Competition |
Result |
|
02 Oct 2001 |
League 1 |
Gillingham 0:2 Latics |
|
31 Mar 2001 |
League 1 |
Gillingham 1:0 Latics |
|
19 Sep 2020 |
League 1 |
Latics 2:3 Gillingham |
|
03 Feb 2018 |
League 1 |
Latics 2:0 Gillingham |
|
17 Oct 2017 |
League 1 |
Gillingham 1:1 Latics |
|
07 Jan 2016 |
League 1 |
Latics 3:2 Gillingham |
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