As the celebrations of VE Day subsided in 1945, thoughts turned to a return to normality and whether the Fleet could be resurrected from six years of dormancy through the Second World War.

Gravesend United had continued to play throughout the conflict at their Central Avenue ground but Northfleet were a spent force and Stonebridge Road was run down and the pitch overgrown.

Gravesend’s directors pushed through the notion of merging the two clubs, and adopting Northfleet’s nickname, club colours and ground while Gravesend would supply the manpower necessary to run the football club. So in summer 1946 Gravesend & Northfleet was born, taking their place in the Southern League for that season under the managership of former Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Scottish international forward Andy Wilson.

The Fleet’s first game was a 3-0 win over Hereford United in August 1946, watched by 5,000 fans – which became a typical home gate at Stonebridge Road during that decade.

The club’s first silverware came in 1949 when three games watched by a total of more than 37,000 people saw the Fleet eventually overcome Gillingham in the Kent Senior Cup Final.

In the Southern League, the Fleet had more than held their own, finishing sixth in the first season and then in mid-table, coupled with a first appearance in the FA Cup First Round in 1946 and again in 1949.