Steve Smith: November 1974 was certainly a month of two halves for Bristol City, with three straight wins and a trio of successive defeats in Division II, while Rovers were struggling to find the back of the net on a regular basis following their promotion from Division III.

However, on Saturday, November 9, both our local clubs made the news with impressive wins over high-flying clubs.

High-flying Manchester United and Norwich City were halted by City and Rovers respectively.

The Robins began the month with a trip to struggling Portsmouth and it was the combative Gerry Gow who gave City got the points in a 1-0 win.

Defending an unbeaten home record in the league, City next entertained a poor Oxford United side. It wasn't until the second period that Alan Dicks' side finally broke down the U's defence, with goals from Jimmy Mann, Geoff Merrick and Tom Ritchie.

The mouth-watering visit of leaders Manchester United came next on the fixture list and Ashton Gate swelled with a crowd of 28,104.

Boasting a line-up that included Martin Buchan, Lou Macari, Gerry Daly and Stuart Pearson, manager Tommy Docherty was certainly treating the game seriously.

The match was settled by a single goal from an international player, City's Welsh midfielder John Emanuel, with what would be his only strike from 31 matches that season.

City were soon brought back down to earth with a trip to West Brom. Not only did the home side take both points through a Joe Mayo goal, City had Emanuel sent off.

The next two defeats were 1-0 affairs against against Blackpool, and, finally, on November 30, Hull City.

Meanwhile, the reliance on the "Smash and Grab" partnership of Bruce Bannister and Alan Warboys was a double-edged sword for Bristol Rovers.

On the one hand, the duo had netted nine of the club's 13 league goals as November approached. The other side of the coin was that only two other players – Tom Stanton and Gordon Fearnley – had managed goals.

Southampton arrived on November 2 in relegation trouble and Rovers appeared to be on for a point, before goalkeeper Jim Eadie fumbled a Mick Channon effort into the net for what proved to be the only goal of the game, to deny the Pirates a fourth straight home win.

Just over two weeks after high-flying West Brom were beaten 2-1 at Eastville, Rovers made the return trip to the Midlands and came back from 2-0 down at the break with goals from Warboys and Frankie Prince to snatch a point.

A trek across country to Norfolk was next, and Rovers took a first-half lead through Bannister, who netted his sixth goal of the season and what proved to be the winner against Norwich to keep Rovers in 10th place.

The month was rounded off with a 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, who had yet to record a league win at Eastville, courtesy of a Warboys strike.

A poor run of form then saw the Pirates narrowly escape relegation, while the Robins finished fifth.