August–December

Gillingham's first match of the season was at their home ground, Priestfield Stadium, against Scunthorpe United;^[13] Elsey and Clark both made their debut and Elsey scored the opening goal in a 4–0 victory.^[14] After a draw away to York City and a weekend with no scheduled game due to the uneven number of teams in the division, Gillingham lost for the first time in the league with a 2–0 defeat away to Hereford United on 4 September,^[13] finishing the game with ten men after Lee Palmer was sent off.^[15] Gillingham defeated Scarborough 2–0 on 7 September with two goals in the last six minutes of the game,^[16] after which they were 10th in the league table,^[17] but then gained only one point from the next five games to slip to 19th.^[13][18] The run included defeats to Wrexham, Blackpool, Crewe Alexandra and Chesterfield,^[13] although they were able to hold second-placed Barnet to a 3–3 draw.^[19] The performances of Lim in particular were questioned, so Richardson signed goalkeeper Keith Branagan on loan from Millwall, but Branagan was injured in a reserve team game and only played one match for the first team before returning to his parent club.^[20]

Gillingham ended their winless league run on 12 October, beating Halifax Town 3–0; David Crown scored twice.^[13] Two weeks later Crown scored the team's first hat-trick of the season as they beat Northampton Town 3–1 at Priestfield;^[13] midfielder Neil Smith, recently signed on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, made his debut.^[21] After impressing with his performances during the loan spell, he joined the club on a permanent basis for a transfer fee of £40,000 (equivalent to £90,000 in 2021), which was reported to have been financed by the payment which the club received from Sky Sports after one of Gillingham's games was broadcast live.^[22]

Gillingham extended their unbeaten league run to six games with draws against Carlisle United, Cardiff City and Maidstone United,^[13] after which they were 13th in the table.^[23] The game against Maidstone, Gillingham's local rivals, drew an attendance of 6,716, Gillingham's largest home crowd of the season for a Fourth Division match.^[24] The team's unbeaten run came to an end with a 4–3 defeat away to Mansfield Town on 23 November. Gillingham defeated Aldershot 3–1 on 30 November,^[25] ending a run of seven games without a win in all competitions,^[24] and then drew twice more, against Rotherham United and York City.^[13] Crown scored in all three matches to take his total of league goals for the season so far to 13, nearly half the total scored by the entire team.^[13] The team's final match of 1991 was on 26 December against the same opponents they had faced in the first game of the season, Scunthorpe United;^[13] Gillingham lost 2–0,^[26] which left them 15th in the league table.^[27]

January–May

Gillingham began the new year with a 2–1 victory at home to Hereford United on 1 January.^[28] The team beat Walsall 4–0 on 11 January, Crown scoring his second hat-trick of the season, but then conceded four in a defeat to promotion-chasing Burnley.^[29] A win over Doncaster Rovers on 1 February left Gillingham 13th in the table.^[30] On 15 February, the team followed two consecutive goalless draws by beating Rotherham United, who were fifth in the table, 5–1 at Priestfield; Steve Lovell scored the team's third hat-trick of the season.^[31] It was the first time that Gillingham had scored five goals in a game since September 1989.^[32] A week later, Gillingham won 1–0 away to Walsall, the first time during the season that the team had won two consecutive league matches, however their unbeaten league run ended with a 3–1 defeat at home to Lincoln City on 29 February.^[13]

On 3 March, Gillingham achieved a 3–0 victory over Burnley, who had not lost for seven games and would go on to win the Fourth Division championship; Crown scored the first goal, the first of four consecutive league games in which he scored.^[33] A week later, defender Richard Green, recently signed on loan from Swindon Town, scored twice on his Gillingham debut as the team defeated Cardiff City 3–2 at Ninian Park.^[13] It would prove to be Gillingham's final league win away from home until October 1993, a run of 30 consecutive away league games without a victory.^[34] The team failed to win in the next three games but ended the month with consecutive home victories over Mansfield Town and Wrexham,^[13] which took them up to 10th in the league table.^[13] Another loan signing, Watford's Rod Thomas, made his debut against Mansfield.^[35] Three days before that game, Aldershot were expelled from the Football League after the club went into liquidation;^[36] all their results up to that point in the season were expunged from the league table, meaning that Gillingham lost the four points they had acquired from a win and a draw against Aldershot.^[37][38]

On 11 April, Gillingham defeated Blackpool 3–2 at Priestfield despite finishing the game with nine players. Both Crown and Lim were sent off, leading to defender Joe Dunne taking over in goal; Dunne was selected because he had played Gaelic football as a youth in his native Ireland, which Richardson felt would help with his ability to catch and handle the ball.^[39] It was the team's only win in five matches played in April, during which they lost away to Scarborough and Barnet and at home to Crewe Alexandra.^[13] Gillingham's final match of the season was at home to Halifax Town. Lovell, who had scored only four league goals before Christmas, scored twice in a 2–0 victory, giving him seven in the last nine games of the season and a total of sixteen for the season.^[14] His second goal against Halifax was his 100th for the club.^[40] Gillingham finished 11th out of 22 remaining teams in the Fourth Division, 12 points below the promotion play-off places;^[24] a review of the season published in the Rothmans Football Yearbook stated that "Gillingham's consistency was simply one of being an average team in the middle of the table".^[41]

Match details

Key

Results^[13]

a. ^ Result expunged following Aldershot's expulsion from the Football League

Partial league table

FA Cup

As a Fourth Division team, Gillingham entered the 1991–92 FA Cup in the first round and were paired with Brentford, who were top of the Third Division. The match at Brentford's Griffin Park stadium ended in a 3–3 draw after Gillingham had trailed 3–1 with less than 20 minutes remaining, necessitating a replay at Priestfield.^[43][44] The second match drew an attendance of 7,328, the largest recorded at Priestfield during the season.^[24] Captain Walker scored a goal, following on from two he had scored in the initial match, but Gillingham lost 3–1 and were eliminated from the competition.^[43][45]

Football League Cup

Gillingham entered the 1991–92 Football League Cup in the first round and their opponents were Portsmouth of the Second Division. The tie was played over two legs, with the first at Portsmouth's Fratton Park ground and the second at Priestfield.^[46] Teenaged forward Peter Beadle came on as a substitute and scored for Gillingham in the first leg but his team lost 2–1.^[47] Seven days later, Portsmouth won the second leg 4–3 and thus won the tie by an aggregate score of 6–4, ending Gillingham's participation in the League Cup.^[47]

Associate Members' Cup

The 1991–92 Associate Members' Cup, a tournament exclusively for Third and Fourth Division teams, began with a preliminary round in which the teams were drawn into groups of three, contested on a round-robin basis. Gillingham's group also contained their local rivals Maidstone United as well as Fulham of the Third Division. Gillingham's first match resulted in a 2–0 defeat away to Fulham;^[49] as the Third Division side had already beaten Maidstone they were now guaranteed to top the group and qualify for the first round proper, leaving the game between the two Kent-based teams to determine the second qualifier.^[50] Gillingham defeated Maidstone 4–2 in front of a crowd of 2,300, the lowest attendance at Priestfield during the season,^[24] to reach the first round. The random draw for the first round paired Gillingham with Fulham again.^[51] The game again took place at Fulham's Craven Cottage ground and the result was identical to the earlier meeting between the two sides, Fulham winning 2–0 to eliminate Gillingham from the competition.^[52]