31 December 1924 - Barrow Carries The Day(s)

On 31 December 1924, Gillingham and Barrow met for the fifth time in three weeks to resolve their FA Cup sixth round qualification match-up, with Barrow finally edging a win, 2-1.

The teams, both from Division Three, first met in that season's tournament on 13 December, playing to a scoreless draw in Gillingham. Five days later, they met for a replay at Barrow and again drew, this time 1-1 after extra time thanks in part to a penalty converted by Barrow's Harold Kay. On 22 December, they met at a neutral site and again finished 1-1 after extra time. Another Kay penalty ensured that the fourth meeting, played on 30 December at a neutral site, also ended 1-1, to set up a fifth meeting the next day.

Although the attendances had declined from the first match (9,000) to the fourth (2,325), a crowd of 4,242 showed up to watch the fifth meeting, which, like the previous two, was played at a neutral ground. There, Barrow finally secured the 2-1 victory with goals from Fred Laycock and Jim Carrick. In all, the teams had played a total of almost nine and a half hours.

Barrow's reward was a first round match-up against Division Two side Blackpool. They played to a scoreless draw at home, then fell to Blackpool 0-2 in the replay.

29 August 1987 - The Football League's Mystery Milestone

On 29 August 1987, somebody scored the English Football League's 400,000th goal. But nobody knows who it was.



Established in 1888, the Football League governed the top four tiers of English football until 1992, when the uppermost division broke away to form the Premier League. It is believed that the league's first goal was scored by Aston Villa full back Gershom Cox, who put the ball into his own net in the 30th minute of a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 8 September 1888. The other contender for the honor, though, is Fred Dewhurst, who netted from Preston North End in the third minute of their match against Burnley on the same day. Although Preston's match started after Villa's, lack of precision in the exact start times makes it impossible to say with certainty which goal came first.



Similarly, lack of details in match timing makes it impossible to say who scored the 400,000th goal. The records only make clear that it came on 29 August 1987. The day's 43 matches provided a total of 110 goals, with only four scoreless draws among them.



The day's highest score came from Division Three's Gillingham, who beat Southend United 8-1, while the highest tally in the top flight was Arsenal's 6-0 victory over Portsmouth. Darlington came close to that in Division Four, beating Hartlepool United 2-5. Sheffield United delivered the top score of the Second Division with a relatively modest 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.



It took almost nine years for the league to reach 500,000 goals, with Huddersfield's Gary Taylor-Fletcher collecting the honor with a strike against Rotherham United.

1 November 1952 - They Can't Call Him "Jimmy Scarce" Anymore

On 1 November 1952, Gillingham's Jimmy Scarth entered the record books by scoring what was, at the time, the Football League's fastest hat-trick.

The accomplishment came in a Division Three (South) match against Leyton Orient, played at Gills' home ground, Priestfield Stadium. It was shaping up to be a dismal season for Gillingham, who on the day were sitting in 17th place out of 24 teams. Orient were right behind them in the 18th spot, giving the contest the appearance of an early relegation battle.

Scarth had just joined Gillingham that year from Tottenham. Although part of the Spurs side that won the League in 1951, Scarth never fully found his form at White Hart Lane, making only 7 league appearances (and scoring only 3 goals) between 1948 and 1952. Surprisingly, he matched that tally against Orient alone.

Initial reports record his hat-trick as coming in at 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the fastest in Football League history at the time. The record fell in 2004, when Bournemouth's James Hayter scored a hat-trick of his own in 2 minutes, 20 seconds. Subsequent reports claim that Scarth's goals spanned 2 minutes flat, but the League recognizes only the originally reported time.