Steve Smith column: Thames trips outshine Cumbrian days for Bristol Rovers

Aberdare Athletic were a Football League club from 1921-22 to 1926-27 and Bristol Rovers made their way to the Ynys Stadium in South Wales on six occasions.

However, they could not transfer their home record in this fixture of five wins and one defeat to anything more than a solitary away victory in Division III South.

The two precious points came via a 1-0 win on December 19, 1925 when Ernie Whatmore netted his fifth goal for the season.

Like Aberdare, Merthyr Town were another club whose time in the Football League was brief.

Just 10 seasons in Division III South were completed between 1920-21 to 1929-30.

The Pirates came away from Merthyr with both points for the first time in October 1921 with a 2-0 win.

Both the other two victories came via the same score, 3-2, in September 1925 and Boxing Day 1927.

At the end of the 1929-30 season Merthyr made failed to gain re-election and were replaced by Thames Association.

Thames spent only two seasons in the Football League (1930-31 and 1931-32 in Division III South) and Rovers won all four encounters between the two sides.

The Dockers ground was, not unlike Eastville, used to staging both speedway and greyhound racing as well.

At Thames, Rovers won 2-1 in April 1931 with a brace of goals from top-scorer Arthur Attwood, while the following season both matches were played over the festive period as the 2-0 away win on Christmas Day was followed 24 hours later by a 4-1 victory at Eastville before a crowd of 18,000, the largest Rovers gate of the season.

Thames finished bottom of Division III South and did not apply for re-election, taking with them the record for the lowest ever Football League crowd for a Saturday fixture – just 469 watched when Luton visited the 50,000 capacity West Ham Stadium on December 6, 1930.

Despite being in the Football League since the 1920s, Barrow did not appear on Rovers' fixture list until 1966-67 and Rovers did not win any of their three trips to Holker Street.

Rovers also made three trips to Workington in the 1960s, finally tasting victory in the third meeting when Alfie Biggs and Ian Hamilton were on target in front of the lowest attendance for any Rovers match during the 1966-67 campaign.

Southport, founding members of Division III North in 1921, faced Rovers on eight occasions in the Football League before they were replaced by Wigan Athletic in 1978.

The Lancastrians dropped just one point to Rovers in four matches at Haig Avenue – a 0-0 draw on the opening day of the 1969-70 season.