August–December

Gillingham began the season with a 2–1 victory at home to Wigan Athletic; new signings Martin, Naylor, Fortune-West, Ratcliffe, Stannard, O'Connor and Harris all made their debuts for the club and Fortune-West scored the winning goal.^[23] Seven days later Dennis Bailey, who had joined the club from Queens Park Rangers shortly after the opening game,^[24] made his league debut and scored in a 3–0 win over Lincoln City. The team's winning run extended to four games with victories over Cambridge United and Barnet, after which Gillingham were top of the league table; it was the first time that Gillingham had opened a league season with four wins.^[25] The winning run came to an end with a defeat by Colchester United on 2 September and in the next two games the team only managed two draws and dropped to second place in the table.^[26][27]

The team held another promotion-chasing team, Chester City, to a 1–1 draw and then secured two more wins without conceding a goal. The second of these, at home to Rochdale, drew an attendance of 7,782, the largest of the season to date and the highest attendance for a league game at Priestfield Stadium since 1989.^[1][28] Alex Watson, recently signed on loan from Pulis' former club Bournemouth,^[29] scored the only goal of that game.^[30] Pulis was named the divisional Manager of the Month for September, the first time that a Gillingham manager had achieved this feat for ten years.^[31] Gillingham achieved their biggest win of the season on 21 October, defeating Doncaster Rovers 4–0.^[30] After this result, Gillingham were three points clear of second-placed Preston North End and had conceded only five goals in thirteen matches, fewer than half the number allowed by any other team in the division.^[32] The team only scored a single goal across the next three games, however, achieving a 1–1 draw and two 0–0 draws, after which they had slipped to third in the table.^[30][33]

Victory over Scarborough on 18 November took Gillingham back into second place in the division.^[30] A week later, the team played Fulham in a match noted for its aggression; two Fulham players were sent off and close to the end of the game Gillingham's O'Connor suffered a broken leg after a rough tackle by an opponent.^[17] This incident led to a mass brawl involving almost every player on the pitch; both clubs were later fined by the football authorities for failing to control their players.^[34][35] O'Connor would not play another game for more than a year after the injury and was forced to retire from professional football in 1997.^[17] The scheduled game against Chester City on 9 December was postponed,^[36] allowing Preston North End to move above Gillingham into second place on goal difference.^[37] The team played away to Preston on 23 December in front of a crowd of 10,682, the largest attendance of the season for any match involving Gillingham.^[23][30] The game between the two promotion contenders ended in a 0–0 draw. Gillingham's final match of 1995 resulted in a 1–0 victory over Plymouth Argyle; the year ended with Gillingham in second place, two points behind Chester City, although Chester had played one more game.^[38] Gillingham would remain in the top two positions for the rest of the season.^[30]

January–May

Gillingham began 1996 with consecutive wins over Leyton Orient, Chester City, and Lincoln City. The first of these victories took the team back to the top of the table.^[39] Against Chester, Steve Butler, who had joined the club from Cambridge United in December,^[40] achieved the team's only hat-trick of the season, scoring all three goals in a 3–1 victory in a 17-minute spell.^[40][41] On 3 February, the team were held to a 0–0 draw by Cambridge after both Ratcliffe and Fortune-West were sent off, reducing the Gillingham team to nine players.^[42][43] By mid-February, Gillingham were eight points ahead of second-placed Preston and had still only conceded 10 goals in 29 matches; the second-best defensive record in the division was held by Preston, who had conceded 25 goals, and only two other teams in the division had allowed fewer than 30.^[30][44] Midfielder Steve Castle joined on loan from Birmingham City and scored on his debut against Hereford United on 17 February.^[45] The team failed to score any goals in the next three games, however, resulting in a draw and two defeats.^[30] Striker Bailey, who had scored six goals in his first 13 games for the club, had now gone 19 games without scoring at all.^[30]

On 9 March, first-placed Gillingham drew 1–1 at home to second-placed Preston; the crowd of 10,595 was the largest attendance of the season at Priestfield Stadium.^[23] During the following week, with the team having only scored one goal in five games, Pulis bolstered his attacking options by signing striker John Gayle on loan from Stoke City.^[46] Gayle scored the only goal on his debut in a 1–0 victory over Mansfield Town and scored again a week later in a 1–1 draw with Leyton Orient.^[23] The next game resulted in a 2–0 defeat to Rochdale, after which Gillingham fell to second place in the table and were overtaken by Preston, who would go on to remain atop the division for the rest of the season.^[47] On 6 April, Gillingham beat Hartlepool United 2–0. It was the 25th game of the season in which Stannard had kept a clean sheet, breaking the previous club record set by John Simpson in the 1963–64 season.^[48]

After an unbeaten run of six games following the defeat to Rochdale, Gillingham went into the penultimate match of the season away to Fulham knowing that victory would clinch promotion to the Second Division. Although the match ended in a 0–0 draw, third-placed Bury's failure to defeat Exeter City meant that promotion was still confirmed.^[49] Gillingham's final match resulted in a 1–0 victory at home to Scarborough. The team finished the season in second place, three points behind Preston and four points ahead of third-placed Bury.^[50] The season was notable for the team's strong defence but also the low number of goals they scored; in only 12 out of 46 games did the team score more than one goal, and the total of 49 goals scored was the lowest of any team that finished in the top half of any of the Football League's three divisions.^[51] In March, Keith Pike of The Times had characterised the Gillingham team as "an army of six-footers able to belt the ball into orbit and tackle themselves into a frenzy" and stated that their approach to the game was effective but unattractive to watch and had "no craft, no flair, no guile".^[52] After the final game of the season, the same writer said that Gillingham had "not endeared themselves to the third division and, with luck, will get found out in the second".^[53]

Match details

Key

Results^[23]

Partial league table

FA Cup

As a Third Division team, Gillingham entered the 1995–96 FA Cup in the first round and were drawn to play away to Wycombe Wanderers of the Second Division. Bailey scored as Gillingham held their higher-division opponents to a draw, meaning that a replay was required.^[54] Gillingham won the replay 1–0 when veteran Wycombe defender Terry Howard scored an own goal.^[55] In the second round, Gillingham played semi-professional club Hitchin Town of the Isthmian League and won 3–0.^[56] The Premier League and Football League First Division teams entered the competition in the third round and Gillingham were paired with Reading of the First Division. Although Martin scored a goal to give Gillingham the lead at half time, Reading scored three times after the break to eliminate Gillingham from the competition. Gillingham finished the game with nine players after both Neil Smith and Martin were sent off and Pulis was also ejected from the technical area for arguing with the referee.^[57][58]

Football League Cup

Gillingham entered the 1995–96 Football League Cup in the first round and were drawn against Bristol Rovers of the Second Division. The first round was played over two legs, with the first taking place at Priestfield. Naylor scored his first of only two goals for the club as Gillingham held their higher-level opponents to a 1–1 draw.^[59] Bristol Rovers won the second leg 4–2, however, meaning that Gillingham were eliminated from the competition, losing 5–3 on aggregate.^[59]

Football League Trophy

The 1995–96 Football League Trophy, a tournament exclusively for Second and Third Division teams, began with a preliminary round in which the teams were drawn into groups of three, contested on a round-robin basis. Gillingham were grouped with Cardiff City and Hereford United, both of the Third Division. In their first match of the tournament, Gillingham lost 3–2 to Cardiff.^[60] As Cardiff had already drawn with Hereford, they were now guaranteed to top the group and progress to the next round and Gillingham needed to beat Hereford to finish second and join them. A 2–2 draw, however, meant that Gillingham's participation in the competition ended at the earliest stage.^[61] The game drew a crowd of 1,866, the lowest attendance at Priestfield during the season.^[23]