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18 November, 1950

Incredible 9-2 Gillingham rout

On this day in 1950 Tommy Capel scores four as Forest beat Gillingham 9–2 at the City Ground.

Records and statistics

Biggest win or defeat
Hat-trick scorer Wally Ardron, pictured 1948.
Hat-trick scorer Wally Ardron, pictured 1948. Image: Nationaal Archief / CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nottingham Forest produced one of the great City Ground routs by beating Gillingham 9–2 in League Division Three South.

Tommy Capel led the scoring with four goals, all before half time, while Wally Ardron added three and Tucker Johnson scored twice. That made the afternoon unusually neat as well as emphatic: all nine Forest goals came from three players who completely overwhelmed Gillingham.

Hat-trick scorer Wally Ardron, pictured 1948.
Hat-trick scorer Wally Ardron, pictured 1948. Image: Nationaal Archief / CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Big wins can sometimes fade into a list of numbers, but this one remains easy to understand. Forest scored nine at home, Capel claimed four of them, and Ardron’s hat trick made the scoreline even more striking.

The result also sat inside a successful season rather than as an isolated scoreline. Forest went on to win the Third Division South title in 1950–51 and earn promotion back to Division Two.

Sources

The City Ground; Old Football Programmes; Gillingham season records; Football Club History Database

Forest timeline

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Notts County 0–2 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 3–0 Blackburn
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Vitória SC 1–1 Nottingham Forest
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Portimonense 1–2 Nottingham Forest Sporting CP 4–1 Nottingham Forest
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Udinese 1–0 Nottingham Forest Barcelona 1–0 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 2–1 Bayer Leverkusen
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Nottingham Forest 2–0 Stade Brestois 29
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Nottingham Forest 0–1 Leeds
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Nottingham Forest 0–2 Leeds
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Liverpool 2–2 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 0–0 Tottenham
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Aston Villa 1–2 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 0–1 Coventry
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Crystal Palace 14:00 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 16:30 Arsenal
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Ipswich 20:00 Nottingham Forest
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Brentford 15:00 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 17:30 Manchester City
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Bournemouth 15:00 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 20:00 Chelsea
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Hull City 20:00 Nottingham Forest
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Manchester United 16:30 Nottingham Forest
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Newcastle 19:30 Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest 15:00 Fulham
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Nottingham Forest 19:30 Hull City
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