Last Saturday’s win at Prenton Park, home of Tranmere Rovers, was the seventh consecutive victory for Bristol Rovers, and whilst that sequence does not constitute a record, the turnaround in a season which has seen the club create an unwanted record of ten consecutive losses is quite remarkable.
The club’s record for consecutive wins is 12, which was set in the 1952/53 season when we ended the campaign as Division Three (South) Champions and were promoted for the first time in our history. Only eight league games were lost in that title-winning campaign, 12 ended all square, and 26 won, as the club finished on 64 points (only two for a win back then), two points ahead of runners-up Millwall. A total of 92 goals were scored, and 46 were conceded.
The 12 consecutive wins came in a remarkable 27 match unbeaten run, which began with a 3-1 win against Colchester United on September 15 1952 when an Eastville crowd of 17,536 saw goals from Geoff Bradford, Vic Lambden and George Petehrbridge enable the club to complete a double over the Essex side (Rovers had won 3-0 at Layer Road two weeks beforehand).
The next six games saw wins against Watford and Norwich City and draws against Bristol City, Exeter City, Coventry City and Northampton Town. The record of 12 wins in a row began with a 2-1 home win against Leyton Orient on October 18 1952, when a crowd of 24,194 were in attendance at Eastville to see John McIlvenny and Lambden score the all-important goals.
The run, which saw Rovers concede only five goals and score 34, was truly remarkable. That side scored seven against Brighton & Hove Albion, five against Ipswich Town and four against Reading and Gillingham. Bradford scored nine goals in the run, towards his season’s total of 33, while Lambden contributed eight of his season’s total of 24.
As well as the sides mentioned above, other ‘victims’ in the 12-match run were: Bournemouth, Southend, Crystal Palace, Shrewsbury Town, Queens Park Rangers (twice), and Walsall. Home attendances during the run peaked with the 30,995 who saw the Boxing Day 2-1 win against QPR at Eastville, and average home attendance for the season was 23,411.
The 12-match winning sequence ended on January 24 1953, with a 1-1 draw against Millwall at Eastville. However, the unbeaten run continued with further draws against Bristol City, Exeter City, Northampton Town and Leyton Orient and wins against Aldershot, Coventry City and Ipswich Town.
Reading were the first side to inflict a league defeat on Rovers in 1953 when they were 2-0 winners at their old Elm Park ground. From that point until the end of the season, Rovers experienced a little bit of a ‘wobble’ and, from being ten points clear of the pack at one point, won only one of their last nine games. Crucially, that came against Newport County on April 25 1953, when they clinched the title with two games to spare. Geoff Bradford, who else, scored a hat-trick that day in front of an ecstatic Eastville crowd of 29,451.
Their prize for winning the title was a huge Championship Shield, 13 winners' medals and the princely sum of £275 as a bonus, which was shared between the players.
Records are there to be broken, of course, so if Steve Evans and his side can conjure up end-of-season wins against Cheltenham Town and Notts County, and then win their first four games of next season, then they will be the new record holders.
One of the members of the 1952/53 side was Geoff Fox, who was ever-present in the side that season. This Saturday, his son and grandson will be guests at our game against Cheltenham Town and will be presented with his legacy cap. Geoff made his debut against Bristol City on September 27 1947, and was the 286th player to appear in league football for the club.
Words by Club Historian Keith Brookman...
