[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Peter Barnes rules the wing during Albion's first ever win at the Goldstone Ground, 30th August 1980

It's genuinely hard to remember the last time an Albion transfer window ended in something approaching satisfaction and optimism. 2012 perhaps, or maybe even the false hope of 2014 (because nothing ever goes wrong with signing players who looked good for a fortnight at the World Cup). But certainly this season there's a refreshing absence of torch-wielding mobs on the Halfords Lane and sheepish statements from the club about spinning plates and targets passed over for "footballing reasons". On the contrary: we have strikers who can score, midfielders who can create, wingers who can run and defenders who aren't all centre-halves. The trick, of course, is how we use them.

That'll all be down to the man who just passed a milestone. Transfer deadline day was Tony Pulis's 973rd day as head coach of West Bromwich Albion, surpassing the 972 racked up by his one-time nemesis Tony Mowbray; that officially makes Pulis Albion's longest-serving boss since a certain Gary Megson. (I wonder what became of him?)

It's been slow and often thankless going, but the look of our current team does suggest that progress is being made. There is, at least, hope that we won't be going through yet another season with a weekly objective of "1-0 to the Albion". And this Saturday's the perfect time to start, as the result's bound to please one set of Albion supporters or another: we visit our namesakes down in Sussex for the first time since March 1993, when a Super Bob penalty wasn't enough to keep us from a 3-1 defeat. For our last win there you have to go back to April 1990, when Don Goodman, Tony Ford and Gary Bannister were the scorers in a 3-0 win. Long story short, it's about time we did it again.

Of course, Brighton will know that to have any chance of survival this season they have to win their home matches, and Albion will be on the hit list. Though their transfer activity wasn't amazing they did end up with Tim Krul, who's had some very happy times between the sticks against the Baggies, so there's every chance we may find ourselves up against it; but here's hoping for a professional away performance and a result to match.

Time for some Albion vs Albion. And may the best Albion win.