It’s FA Cup Round Four weekend and this weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the greatest Fourth Round tie in the history of Kent football as Gillingham faced Everton.

Keith Peacock’s Gillingham came within the width of a Welshman’s knee to derailing a dynasty on the Blue side of Merseyside before it even began… 

Mike Green has been dusting down the memories on what was ten days that could have changed the immediate face of English football forever…  

After seeing the Gills come from 3-1 behind to score four in the last eleven minutes in the Third Round at Priestfield in early January 1984, the Monday lunchtime draw was to send Peacock and his side to Goodison Park to face an Everton side who had only escaped humiliation in the League Cup the Tuesday before the tie in the League Cup at Third tier Oxford United who were one of Gillingham’s rivals that season. 

Everton were in trouble in the “old” First Division, and at their first home match of the year, just 13,659 fans turned up to watch an abysmal 0-0 draw against Coventry City at Goodison, with protest leaflets handed out by fans spelling out their feelings towards the chairman and manager:

“(Howard) Kendall and (Phillip) Carter must go. 26,000 stay-away fans cannot be wrong.”

Everton were 16th in the league and apparently going nowhere. They squeezed past Stoke City and Adrian Heath’s goal at Oxford kept them in that competition with the Gills next up and another huge hurdle for Kendall’s strugglers to get over. 

In the original tie, the Gills were roared on by over 4,000 fans on Merseyside – many of whom had travelled on a specially chartered train.

The game was only just over twenty minutes old when Mark Weatherly challenged Neville Southall and ended up being stretchered off with a bad knee injury which was to sideline him for many months.

Without it Wev would have surely made more than the near 460 appearances in Gillingham blue than he did.

Back to the first game and it was the visitors who had the best chances, with the young Steve Bruce bouncing a header off the top of the home crossbar… 

That game also marked a historic day for the Gills as it was the first game that they ever wore sponsorship on their shirts with the electrical company Zanussi across the Gillingham red on that particular Saturday…  

So, it was all back to Priestfield on the following Tuesday for the replay – none of this ten-day nonsense that we must endure these days… And with more than 15,000 packed into the old place, the atmosphere was electric and the anticipation was there to such an extent that Radio Two (the equivalent of today’s BBC Five Live) were on hand with the late commentary legends Byron Butler and Peter Jones providing the words around what remains arguably one of the greatest and best games ever played in ME7. 

Led out by Dave Mehmet, the Gills attacked the Gillingham End first and tested their top flight opponents roared on my the men of Kent.

Southall who was to have THE game of his very long and illustrious career beat out an early John Leslie shot. Tony Cascarino then rounded the Welsh keeper wide out only for former Welsh international skipper Kevin Ratcliffe to clear off the line. Leslie had a flying header beaten out by Southall as half time arrived and the faithful were in good voice and still high spirits. 

After the break, the irrespessable Terry Cochrane smashed a half volley that Southall’s finger tips onto the angle of post and bar, before Everton had their first chance real chance when Graeme Sharp escaped Bruce’s clutches to head over. 

The pace of the game was incredible and continued swaying from end to end – Leslie had an angled volley in front of the Rainham End brilliantly beaten out by Southall before David Fry made a super save to deny Sharp.

The Gills were running out of steam as the ninety minutes elapsed and Sharp almost won it with a header that Fry will argue he had covered as the ball skimmed his right post. 

Whatever “Sir” Keith said to the Gills between normal and extra time seemed to work – Kendall surely pleaded with his First Division stars to keep him in a job – and the battle lines were secure until incredibly the last two minutes… which will live with all Gillingham fans who saw it forever, asking themselves “if only!” 

Everton played the ball into the Gills box only for Bruce’s magnificent central defensive partner John Sitton to launch the ball towards the halfway line.

Just as the home fans were going to start pleading for the final whistle, the whole crowd realised that Cascarino was away without a single yellow shirt anywhere near him.

Off he went bearing down on the Everton goal with “only” Southall to beat and with full back John Bailey desperately trying to get back, Cas was through and up in the box, the legend that was Jones yelled the immortal phrase “he must score” and we knew we were doomed as the Irish striker’s shot cannoned out thirty yards off the right knee of Southall who that night showed why he would be considered the “Best Keeper in the World” during the mid and late eighties! 

Incredibly there was still time for the magical left foot that belonged to Irish international Kevin Sheedy to smash an effort off Fry’s crossbar – and I am still convinced to this day that the Gills keeper got his fingertips to that one!

Soon after the final whistle blew, and we all went home for a rest knowing that we had seen an absolute classic! 

We wouldn’t get that close in the Second Replay – remember those older supporters – and the following Monday night we were all back at home base, but this time there was a gale blowing straight down the middle of the pitch and despite kicking with the wind in the first half, the Gills went in at the break three down and out of the FA Cup… 

Everton went on to win the FA Cup at Wembley beating Watford in the Final, and the following season they were THE team to beat as they won the League title by thirteen points from Liverpool and won the Cup Winners Cup by beating Rapid Vienna… 

But the question remains, IF Cascarino’s shot had been an inch or two higher, Howard Kendall would have been out of a job and Everton would have been staring relegation for the first time since the 1950s… Indeed, as Cas recalled in his autobiography, he was often greeted warmly by Kendall in future meetings, with the Everton manager reminding him of the night the striker saved his job. 

The first replay sides were: 

GILLINGHAM – David Fry, John Sitton, Mel Sage, Steve Bruce, Russell Musker, Peter Shaw, Terry Cochrane, Jeff Johnson, John Leslie, Dave Mehmet, Tony Cascarino 

EVERTON – Neville Southall, Gary Stevens, Derek Mountfield, Kevin Ratcliffe, John Bailey, Alan Irvine, Peter Reid, Kevin Richardson, Kevin Sheedy, Graham Sharp (Andy Gray), Adrian Heath