Gillingham's first game back in the Football League saw the Kent club hold fellow new entrants Colchester United to a 0–0 draw at Priestfield in front of 19,542 fans. The 1950–51 season saw the Gills both concede and score nine goals in individual matches, and finished with them bottom of the table, a performance which was repeated the following season. In 1952 striker Jimmy Scarth set a Football League record when he scored a hat-trick in approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds against Leyton Orient, which was officially recognised as the fastest hat-trick in the history of the Football League until February 2004.