Table-topping Bristol City have the class of '54 in their sights. please log in to view this image Bristol City players celebrate a goal from Kieran Agard in Saturday's 3-2 win over MK Dons. BRISTOL City's class of 2014 are closing in on a remarkable club record that has stood unchallenged for six decades. Unbeaten in their opening ten League One matches this season, the Robins are five points clear at the top of the table and enjoying their best start to a campaign since Winston Churchill was Prime Minister. Should Steve Cotterill's in-form team remain unbeaten in upcoming fixtures against Walsall, Chesterfield and Coventry City, they will equal the astonishing record established by Pat Beasley's side in 1954. City remained unbeaten in their first 13 games in the old Division Three South that year, winning ten and drawing three before finally surrendering their proud record when they lost 3-2 at Southend United on October 9. The team assembled by Cotterill have already eclipsed the eight-match unbeaten start to a season achieved by Gary Johnson's team in the Championship in 2007 and now have their sights trained on the all-time record. Should they avoid defeat in their next three games, the Robins will have an opportunity to make history when Bradford City visit Ashton Gate on October 21. Although Cotterill again went out of his way to play down City's outstanding start to the season following Saturday's thrilling 3-2 victory over MK Dons, the Ashton Gate faithful are beginning to dream of promotion. Certainly, the omens are good. The 1954-55 side, managed by Beasley, ended up being crowned Division Three South champions, finishing nine points clear of Leyton Orient and returning to the Second Division for the first time since 1932. A team that included legendary striker John Atyeo and Arthur Milton, the last man to play football and cricket for England, scored 101 goals and achieved a club record tally of 30 wins in a season. City were promoted with 70 points, a record for Division Three South in the days when two points were awarded for a win. No wonder there is a growing sense of excitement among City fans, who are returning to the fold in their droves following three seasons of struggle. Understandably, Cotterill is refusing to become carried away by a return of seven wins and three draws since early August, and he is doing his utmost to ensure his players remain grounded and focused on the next game, against Walsall at the Banks's Stadium on Saturday. He said: "No prizes are given out for being top of the league after ten games in September. We're pleased to be there, but it is only a start. "We are where I want us to be and we want to stay there, but we have to keep our heads down and not think too much about anything else. "I know it's an old cliché, but we really do have to take it one game at a time. You cannot look too far ahead in this business. "Expectations don't mean anything. There was an expectation last season that Bristol City would be promoted and, in the end, they were lucky not to be relegated." Delighted City supporters cannot help but be encouraged by comparisons between this and last season. Forced to cut the budget and operate with a young squad following relegation from the Championship, then-head coach Sean O'Driscoll presided over a depressing run of 12 League One games without a win, a sequence that finally came to an end with victory over Carlisle United on October 26. When O'Driscoll was finally relieved of his duties in late November, the Robins were lodged in the relegation zone, having mustered just 15 points from their opening 18 games. Appointed in early December, Cotterill brought in half-a-dozen players on loan to initiate a gradual upturn in performances and results. The transformation in fortunes achieved under his supervision has been startling. Beaten just once in their final 13 games, the Robins steadily climbed the table to achieve a creditable 12th-placed finish, something that had seemed unthinkable at the turn of the year. That progress has continued this season, aided and abetted by the arrival of seven new players during the summer, and the Robins are now unbeaten in 16 League One games dating back to March 29. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Table-...ss-54-sights/story-23017740-detail/story.html
