Steve Smith column: Bristol Rovers' in-form striker Rickie Lambert makes his return to Stockport's Edgeley Park next week, a ground where he scored 18 league goals in 98 games for County between 2001 and 2005.

It is 40 years since Rovers first encountered Stockport County in a Football League match and they will be looking to record their fifth league win in the 10 meetings at Edgeley Park.

Starting as Heaton Norris Rovers, County occupied six playing areas, including the sharing of the cricket ground belonging to Heaton Norris Wanderers, before they finally moved to Edgeley Park, the home of Stockport RFC, in 1902 and became the first Football League club to attempt sharing the same pitch for rugby and football.

The rugby club folded the following year.

A 5,158 attendance witnessed the Pirates' first league encounter with the Hatters on April 13, 1968.

It was Rovers manager Fred Ford's first away match in charge after successive home wins over Tranmere Rovers, 3-1, and then Torquay, 1-0.

However, Stockport were something of a force at home that season, beating Northampton 4-0, trouncing Scunthorpe 4-1, seeing off Shrewsbury 4-2 and crushing Tranmere 5-2.

County's leading scorer Jim Fryatt did the damage, recording the only hat-trick scored against the Pirates that season as they went down 3-1.

Ken Ronaldson scored Rovers' first league goal there.

The next two seasons gave Rovers a clear edge over the Hatters, as they won both home and away league matches, starting when Joe Gadson's goal secured a 1-0 triumph at Edgeley Park on April 8, 1969.

A week later at Eastville, he notched his third goal in as many games as the Pirates won the return fixture 2-0.

A crowd of just 2,941 saw Rovers' 1-0 win on November 24, 1969, courtesy of a Bobby Williams strike that contributed to one of County's 12 defeats at home that season as they tumbled toward Division Four.

The chance of promotion for Rovers was but a slim one when already-relegated County came to Eastville in early April 1970 as a solitary Sandy Allan goal won the day.

Much had changed when Rovers made a long-awaited return to Edgeley Park on November 20, 1993.

Gone by then was the old Cheadle End Stand, demolished in 1985 because it was a high risk fire hazard. The resulting open space remained until a £1.5m stand was erected in 1995.

On the pitch, John Ward's boys carried on from where a previous generation had left off as goals from John Taylor and 21-year-old Lee Archer earned the visitors their fifth away win of the season before a modest crowd of 5,250.

Up until the Hatters claimed an automatic promotion place to the second tier of English football at the end of the 1996-97 campaign, Rovers suffered three consecutive defeats, the last of these coming on April 5, 1997 when a Kevin Cooper penalty four minutes from time sealed the home win.

By the start of the 2005-06 season, County were back in the basement division and found the going tough by the time Rovers came to Edgeley Park on December 6, 2005.

Just like their last visit, it was the tale of a single penalty kick deciding the match and this time it was the Pirates who capped a fine display as Richard Walker got the goal.

The Pirates' last league visit to Edgeley Park came on September 3, 2006, as Rovers' stuttering start to the campaign allowed County to record their first win of the season in front of 4,846 fans.

A goal in each half from Glenn Murray was enough for all three points, despite Walker netting a consolation goal with seven minutes remaining.

Lambert bit the hand that once fed him when he scored against his old club in the 2-1 home win in the return fixture on March 20.

On May 7, 1921, Edgeley Park was under suspension from the Football League and County were forced to play their Division Two match with Leicester at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground.

Only 13 supporters paid to see the spectacle and it remains the smallest ever recorded attendance for a Football League fixture.