[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

If it's not yet last-chance saloon for Valerian Ismael, then it's at least the burger joint next door, as Albion plough on rudderless through an increasingly disastrous winter. With 22nd-placed Peterborough Saturday's opponents, I don't see how the manager's credibility could survive anything short of a win. With just five goals to our credit in the last ten league games, there won't be a better opportunity to break the drought than against a team who've conceded 33 on the road this season so far. But with our disastrous record against sides in the dogfight, and the close game that Posh gave us last autumn at London Road when we were theoretically in form, it could end up being an uphill struggle regardless. A scrappy 1-0 win would do the job, but would it also simply prolong the inevitable?

Wednesday evening will then see the Preston postponement fulfilled, as North End visit on the back of a four-game unbeaten run. They haven't enjoyed much more success at the Hawthorns than Peterborough, going winless in all competitions since a 2-0 victory under Bobby Charlton in September 1973, with 23 futile visits since. Yet the circumstances again make this another banana skin ripe for the final slip.

If things are going to turn around this season, then they need to happen in the coming week. But only time will tell if it's a new beginning, or just the beginning of the end.