[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

This time last week, I wrote that our four upcoming matches would be a fantastic chance for both Irvine and the team to prove themselves following a tough couple of games from which they emerged with credit but few points.  Seven days on and two winnable matches later, whatever they've proved has not been overwhelmingly positive.  Of course the margins are always fine in football, but as the saying goes: the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Our next two matches are no easier than the last two, and results are not guaranteed by any means, but at the very least, I want us to ditch the hard luck stories and replace them with hard work stories.

On being told that he wouldn't be sold to Wolves this season, Chris could hardly contain his disappointment.

Leicester's need for wins is no less pressing than our own.  A poor run over the last month has seen them lose on the road at three teams around them in the table, and only manage a draw at home against a Burnley team who on current form would struggle to get a result against Barnstoneworth United (if you're too young to have seen any decent television in your life, Google it).  Of course, all this means nothing.  For Albion, the season of goodwill has always run annually from August till May, and during that period any footballing vagrants down on their luck are liable to find themselves freely gifted points off the Baggies, as if we were once stopped on the high street by someone with a clipboard saying "Now, surely you can afford to give just two points a week to those less fortunate than you.  In fact, how about three? If you can spare three points a week for Birmingham City right now, they'll send you a lovely homemade Christmas card."

For that reason, I'm reluctant to go into this match expecting big things.  Failing to beat Palace does put extra pressure on Irvine to deliver a win elsewhere - such is the nature of the Premier League - but a Leicester side with a pacy forward line and the full support of a noisy home crowd behind them are perfectly capable of inflicting damage on us, as every team to visit them this season has discovered.  It's anything but an easy fixture, folks.

Brace yourselves for another rollercoaster Saturday...

Classic Match

Leicester City vs West Bromwich Albion

Football League Division One: 9th April 1996

If there's one man who could tell you all about managerial pressure, it's Alan Buckley, having invited it on himself with weekly gusto for the better part of three years.  In spring 1996, with relegation threatening despite having been second in the league the previous autumn, Buckley's Albion needed a result from Filbert Street as Martin O'Neill's Leicester pushed for promotion.  He talked the talk before the game ("We're not going to Leicester looking for a draw, if that's what people think") and with recent signing Richard Sneekes in red-hot form after scoring six in seven, there was some hope.  In fact, the local bookies' decision to offer 9/1 odds on the Dutchman scoring first was a bit suicidal... and didn't he teach them a lesson in style?

It all got very backs to the wall as the game went on, but if there's one thing Albion excel at, it's a good stoppage-time header from a centre-half.  G-Mac would have been proud of this one.