Steve Smith Column: Trophy final a memorable Bristol Rovers v Tranmere clash
The honours went to Tranmere that day, when the two sides, who were both chasing promotion from Division Three, met for the second time in 28 days.
Tranmere's leading marksman Ian Muir put them ahead after 10 minutes, but not long into the second half the 32,000 Pirates fans in the 53,317 crowd lifted the roof off the old stadium when Devon White pulled them level.
Those cheers turned to tears with just under 20 minutes remaining as Jim Steel, the former Oldham and Wrexham forward, clinched what turned out to be the winner.
While Tranmere had the upper hand that day, the Gas had come out on top in the league clash at Prenton Park on April 23.
A goal from Geoff Twentyman and an Ian Holloway penalty gave the visitors a 2-1 win which helped them to the Division Three championship. Tranmere went on to reach the play-off final but to lose 2-0 at Wembley to Notts County.
Tranmere have resided at Prenton Park since 1912. Their first home meeting with Bristol Rovers came in the FA Cup second round in the 1931-32 season, when Tranmere ran out 2-0 winners over a Rovers side who had beaten Gillingham 5-0 in the previous round.
The first Football League meeting between the sides at Prenton Park came during the 1967-68 season. A crowd of 6,636 saw a Pirates side that had won their last away match 5-4 at Northampton take a 3-3 draw. Ray Mabbutt scored a brace against the Wirral outfit to add to his hat-trick in the previous game, and Bobby Jones was also on target.
Rovers won when they hosted the return fixture at Eastville in April, with two goals from Bobby Jones and a Wayne Jones goal sealing a 3-1 win.
Their first victory at Prenton Park followed the next season. Bobby Jones was again the scourge of Tranmere, scoring along with Ray Graydon to earn the Pirates a 2-1 victory.
Defeat at Tranmere on the final day of the 1969-70 season was to prove costly for Rovers, whose promotion hopes had been hit by a 2-1 defeat at Gillingham. A 5-2 reverse meant the Pirates ended the season third.
The next two visits produced more success for Rovers. In November 1970 a meagre 3,471 spectatorswitnessed goals from Graydon and goal-machine Robin Stubbs in a 2-0 win, their third on the bounce.
It was the same story for the 1971-72 meeting on March 17 as in-form striker Bruce Bannister notched up this third goal in as many games in a 1-0 victory to complete another sequence of three successive league wins.
Rovers' last match at Prenton Park was on January 11, 2008, when three valuable points that helped them move away from the relegation zone were earned through goals from Andy Williams and Rickie Lambert.
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