August 1956 saw Bristol Rovers embark on their fourth season in Division Two with every chance of improving on their sixth-place finish from the previous campaign, while for Bristol City there was only one man doing the business in front of goal.

Bert Tann's side was becoming a settled one; goals were easy to come by through the likes of England international Geoff Bradford, the dependable Barrier Meyer and diminutive Welsh wizard Dai Ward. Meanwhile the defence that shipped 70 League goals in 1955-56 was better than Leicester City's 78 who finished one place above the Pirates in fifth.

First up for the opening day fixture on August 18 were Third Division North champions Grimsby Town, back at Eastville for the first time since their inaugural league meeting on September 11 1920 were they suffered a 2-0 defeat. This time around it was only 1-0 to the Pirates through a Dai Ward effort early in the second half.

In scoring, Ward's tally, if carried over from the previous season, read nine goals from 10 matches. He would eventually end the season as the club's top scorer in the league with 19 goals from 27 games.

A late midweek trip to east London found Leyton Orient still recovering from an opening-day 4-1home drubbing by Nottingham Forest. But with an unchanged team Rovers could only manage a 1-1 draw, their third on the bounce at Brisbane Road, thanks to a strike from Alfie Biggs.

From here the goals began to flow, starting with a journey to south Yorkshire and Doncaster Rovers on August 25, a venue that Rovers had yet to win in three successive visits.

Although the Belle Vue attendance of 9,316 was a far cry from their average of 22,838 from 1950-51 those who did turn up witnessed a Pirates' win in style as Geoff Bradford, the club's leading goalscorer in the last four seasons, opened his account with a brace as the visitors claimed a 4-2 victory.

Joining him on the scoresheet was Ward and Pete Hooper with his first of the campaign.

Leyton Orient's appearance at Eastville rounded off the month on August 27 and again it was Bradford and Ward who did the damage on a side who had just thumped Blackburn Rovers 4-3 at Ewood Park two days prior. Another two goals from the England international plus one from Ward, taking his goal's figure to three from four games, gave Rovers both points in this 3-2 win.

This Rovers XI was to remain intact for the first six League matches of the season as they began September by shooting four past Stoke City at Eastville with all a goal apiece from Bradford, Biggs, Hooper and Ward.

The fine opening of four wins and a draw came to an end on September 3 with the club's first League tip to Huddersfield Town, a club just recently dropping into Division Two.

Like Doncaster, Huddersfield were another club with dwindling crowds and the 14,500 gate was a far cry for the average of 30,820 from just two seasons before. This 2-1 home win for the Terriers was their third of the season.

If Rovers were spreading their goals around then it was only the goalscoring prowess of John Atyeo finding the net for the Robins, albeit if only as consolation efforts.

It was second-season syndrome for City under Pat Beasley as life in Division Two was becoming tough. Only David Smith joined that of "Big John" on the score sheet and that came by way of a 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest at the end of the month.

The season began was a 1-1 draw at Lincoln City, a place that had not witnessed a City win since the days of Billy Wedlock at the turn of the 20th century, as Atyeo scores the opening goal to a campaign for the fourth time in six seasons.

Nottingham Forest always find Ashton Gate a happy hunting ground for points and on August 21 a crowd of 27,646 witnessed an exhibition in finishing as they ran out 5-1 winners, again with England international Atyeo netting for the home side. It was City's heaviest home defeat in the League since January 1949 when Norwich won 6-1.

The following Saturday put things back on track with a 2-1 victory over Rotherham by way of a brace from Atyeo, almost 12 months to the day that the Millers were thumped 5-2 at Ashton Gate.

Add to that the aforementioned 2-2 Forest draw on August 30 and the glass could be viewed as half-full or half-empty; four matches played and four points on the board through one win and two draws.

All this was the lull before the storm as the first four matches in September brought nothing but defeats, the worse of these being a 3-0 mauling by Fulham in what was their first away win of the season.

BRITISH NUMBER ONE SINGLE IN AUGUST 1956

Why Do Fools Fall In Love? Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon. No 1 on 20 July for 3 weeks.

Whatever Will Be, Will Be, Doris Day. No 1 on 10 August for 6 weeks

TOP FILMS IN 1956

The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner; Rebel Without A Cause, starring James Dean; High Society, starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly.

MAJOR EVENTS FROM 1956

Britain, France and the US hold urgent talks on the Suez Canal crisis. Michael Croft founds the National Youth Theatre in London. It is announced that part-time traffic wardens will supervise the new parking meters when they are introduced early next year.