[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Left Back By The Trent: Derek Statham on the attack at Victoria Park, 21st May 1982

Our Pottery-lottery of a week continues unabated on Saturday with a return to the unhappy scene of Alan Irvine's last stand less than a year ago.  This will be Tony Pulis's first return to the Britannia since his 2013 departure, and if the match proves to be a turgid 1-0 Albion win with Stoke fans leaving early and grumbling that they're glad they don't have to watch this stuff every week, it's possible that the universe may just collapse on itself.

So far, the "surprising" transfers we've been eagerly awaiting don't seem to have fallen into place, and it could well end up being a deadline-day scramble.  Obviously that doesn't help us at the weekend, so I just hope we can put the long slog against Port Vale behind us and try and build on the encouraging signs from the Chelsea match last Sunday.  That said, the position we're in does cry out for points on the board, so there is a very real possibility that we'll get a repeat of the Watford "safety first" performance instead.  How you feel about that is up to you; right now, I'm a lot more concerned by how the club's going to acquit itself around 11pm next Tuesday.  When all's said and done, it seems a lot of what we watch in the coming months is going to be defined by those anxious hours.  Again.

Right Back By The Trent: Wayne Fereday on the attack at Victoria Park, 19th September 1992.