Recent respective form guides Bristol Rovers return to the scene of their final day triumph last season. A season of unexpected twists and turns took Rovers to County Durham needing to win at the ground of the team looking to take out the Championship of the Division.

Danny Wilson's team had started last season badly but three consecutive wins in September lifted them to 7th spot and a seven game winning streak at the end of the year lifted them back to 5th place. A further seven wins on the bounce lifted them to top spot by the end of March. With form like that Pools were putting a lot of pressure on Richard Money's Walsall team.

Rickie Lambert's late header sealed a 2-1 victory for Rovers and, as they say, the rest is history. At present two points and seven positions separate the teams. Whilst Rovers' home form has been dismal the North Easterners home performances have been solid with two wins, two draws and one defeat. Pools have not won in their last three home games however and, of course, Rovers are unbeaten away from Bristol.

Looking back at the history the "Monkey Hangers", the seeds of the current club were sown in 1905 when the amateur team West Hartlepool won the FA Amateur Cup which at the time was considered second only to the FA Cup.

Partly as a result of this the opportunity for a professional team arose in 1908, when West Hartlepool Rugby Club went bust leaving their stadium 'The Victoria Ground' vacant. The stadium was bought and the current club was founded under the name 'Hartlepools United Football Athletic Company', representing both the town of West Hartlepool and the original settlement of Old Hartlepool.

The new team joined the professional North-Eastern league and West Hartlepool F.C. lost some of their players to the new professional side. West Hartlepool managed to continue for a few seasons however it wasn't long before they broke up leaving Hartlepools United as the only team in town.

Hartlepools United made many early applications to join the Football League however their proximity to Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough led to these applications being rejected. In 1920 the FA decided to form a third division, however in practise this was simply achieved by absorbing virtually the entire top division of the Southern League, with Grimsby Town the only northern representative. This was rectified the following season when a northern third division was created with Hartlepool being one of the founder members.

Despite a promising 4th place finish in their first season Hartlepool failed to gain anything having to fight for re-election on many occasions. Hartlepool had a brief good spell in the mid 50s, in 1955 they achieved their best ever FA Cup run, reaching the 4th round and in 1957 they narrowly missed out on winning the league.

In 1958 things took a turn for the worse and Hartlepool finished in the bottom half of the table, this coincided with the creation of national Divisions 3 and 4. Hartlepool consequently took up a position in the lower Division.

Hartlepool's time in the 4th division included several re-election challenges, although their fortunes improved dramatically under the management of Brian Clough. In 1967/1968, the season after Clough's departure, they managed to finish the season in 3rd place and won promotion to the third division for the first time in their history - they were only here for one season however before being relegated once more.

Reflecting the merger of West Hartlepool with Old Hartlepool in 1967, the team were renamed to simply "Hartlepool FC" following promotion. In 1977 the team's name was changed over the close season to its current form of Hartlepool United.

The 1985/1986 season's introduction of the playoffs and the end of re-election was welcomed with open arms by Hartlepool with whom being relegated looked more and more certain every time they faced re-election.

In 1991 Hartlepool finished in third place and managed to gain only the second promotion in the club's history. This stint in division 3 was longer than their last one and as it included the renaming of the league, it made Hartlepool a second division team for the first time in their history. In the 1993/1994 season however, after 3 seasons, Hartlepool were relegated back to the third division.

Their first seasons back in the third division were marred by financial crisis and the team narrowly avoided relegation for 5 seasons in a row. In 1999/2000 however their problems seemed to be over and they reached the playoffs, they failed to win promotion. In 2002/03 they finished in second place and won automatic promotion to the Football League Second Division once more.

After an exceptional campaign, which included an 8-1 victory over Grimsby Town, they finished 6th, making the playoffs. However, they lost to third placed Bristol City over two games after holding them to a draw on the first leg.

This season also saw Eifion Williams called up to the Wales squad and looked set to become only the second Hartlepool player ever to win an international cap while at the club however an unfortunate injury ruined his plans for the time being. The club finished sixth in the league again in the 2004/5 season. In the play-off semi-final, they defeated Tranmere Rovers 6-5 on penalties after the sides had won 2-0 over each other.

In the final they lost 4-2 to Sheffield Wednesday after extra time. Hartlepool had been winning 2-1 with 8 minutes of regular time to go. A penalty in the 82 minute saw Chris Westwood sent off and Sheffield Wednesday evening the score making it 2-2 at 90 minutes. Hartlepool missing a key defender struggled in extra time and inevitably conceded two goals.

The 2005/6 season saw the side slip down the division to the relegation places helped in part by poor management, an indecisive board room and key player injuries. Manager Martin Scott was suspended after an alleged fight with a player in the changing rooms, which resulted in his dismissal. Youth team coach Paul Stephenson was put in charge until the end of the season and despite remaining undefeated in his first five games in charge, he could not prevent the club being relegated into the fourth tier in May 2006.

There was some consternation regarding Hartlepool's relegation given that Rotherham United had escaped administration, and therefore a 10 point deduction and relegation, by delaying a CVA meeting until after the season had ended. On June 13, 2006, former Bristol City and MK Dons Manager Danny Wilson was appointed manager.

Wilson struggled with his team early last season but a series of winning runs saw Pools gain automatic promotion albeit that Rovers spoiled their promotion party!

The first meeting between the two teams surprisingly for club's that have been in existence for so long, didn't take place until the 1961/62 season, a League Cup game which Rovers won 2-1. Matches between the teams are invariably low scoring, the biggest margin being 2-0 for Rovers defeat in the North East on 29 October 2002 and the same result at the Mem back in December.

In their latest match Joel Porter grabbed a hat-trick as Hartlepool destroyed Lincoln in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Mark Stallard's penalty put Lincoln ahead but early substitute Porter diverted in a shot and grabbed an easy second to give the visitors the lead.

Michael Mackay, Ian Moore and Porter scored in the space of six minutes to stun struggling Lincoln. Lincoln pulled a goal back when Stallard blasted in from 30-yards but the damage had already been done. The result virtually mimicked Rovers amazing 5-3 victory at Sincil Bank in the Play-Offs last season.

On the transfer front United are among the front-runners to land former Sunderland striker Michael Bridges, but face strong competition for his services. Pools have signalled to the player that they are interested in taking him to Victoria Park, although Bridges' former club are favourites to sign him.

Hull City have circulated the 29-year-old's name around the Football League in the hope that they can offload him on loan now with a view to making a permanent move in January. At this stage, Carlisle United appear to be winning the chase after Bridges was told there is a place for him in the squad he left in August last year.

The North Shields-born forward has struggled to make an impact at Hull in the Championship following his £350,000 move and has scored twice in just nine league starts for the Tigers.

And, having enjoyed success at Brunton Park between November 2005 and August 2006, he would be keen on playing for the Cumbrians again.

Reflecting on their disappointing loss at Nottingham Forest last week-end Danny Wilson admitted a change in tack may be needed at the club. Pools were punished by Forest, after conceding a late goal while pushing for a winner at the other end.

With the scores at 1-1, former Gas player Junior Agogo netted the decisive goal, after Pools squandered chances of their own to take the lead.

"Of course I am concerned we are conceding too many goals, one is too many for me,'' he admitted "We want clean sheets in every game we play - it's not going to happen - but that's what you strive for.

"It is important we realise as a team that we have to work that slightly bit harder to keep clean sheets. Maybe the other side of our game will have to change a bit - maybe we are too offensive, perhaps too good going forward and then get caught on the break.

"So we will have a look at that and a think about it and I am sure we will get it right. I think we deserved to come away with something but we haven't and it's a lesson to be learned. It is disappointing because you put a lot of work and a lot of energy into games like this and you want to come away with something.

"But unfortunately we haven't and it's a lesson we have to take heed of. For the first 20 minutes at Leeds and the first 20 here, we haven't gone about our business like we know we can. After that though when we settled down, we were worthy of getting something from the game."

Loan signing Danny Coles made his debut at right back, with Jamie McCunnie missing out for the first time since his summer move from Dunfermline. McCunnie has impressed at both right back and in central midfield and Wilson admitted: "It was a hard decision to leave Jamie out.

"We maybe have to tweak our side a bit if we want to keep clean sheets and Jamie is a fantastic attacking full-back, as you know. He has great ability on the ball but we felt coming here, with Forest having what they have, we needed tall, strapping lads to defend and Danny comes into that category.''

McCunnie replaced Coles in the closing stages with the latter suffering from cramp and Wilson added: "Danny heads it well and covers a lot of ground, loses a bit going forward at times but he's not bothered about that because he is a defender.

"It's disappointing for Jamie but we have a big squad here now with lads who can come in and do a job."

Although it is still 'early days' Rovers continuing failure to win at home is cause for concern. A draw in County Durham would be a good result for Rovers but a run which has seen them collect just three points from the last fifteen on offer needs to be ended sooner rather than later, a win is well overdue.

Written by Gerry Prewett