[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

A solitary figure in an East End tower block watches Albion play West Ham in the League Cup final from their window; the Boleyn Ground, 9th March 1966

An unexpected, hard-fought and thoroughly welcome win last weekend has taken some of the pressure off Albion in a tough month.  Where, on paper, this weekend's trip to east London might have seen us desperate for a point to stop the rot, instead we're travelling down knowing that a decent performance and hopefully a result to match will keep us ticking over nicely as we head into winter.  After their best-ever start to a Premier League season, things have slowed down for West Ham over the last month - the loss of Dimitri Payet to injury possibly throwing a spanner in the works - and though they remain high-flyers in sixth place, only four points separate the Hammers from Albion.  Last week's mauling at Spurs will no doubt have rubbed salt in the wound, and they'll be eager for a win to turn things around.

Tony Brown and Eddie Bovington battle for an aerial ball; the Boleyn Ground, 8th February 1967

This will, of course, also be Albion's last ever trip to Upton Park.  I won't say anything about West Ham, their new stadium and the sickening crony-fuelled lunacy of modern football here, because my blood pressure could do without it.  However, over a century since our first visit in 1913, it'll be a sad moment to see another stadium - a regular destination on our itinerary, and the scene of some great Albion heroics through the decades - follow the likes of Ayresome, Roker, Burnden, the Baseball Ground, Filbert Street, Highfield Road, Maine Road, Highbury and countless others up and down the leagues, into the sentimental roll call of obsolescence.  As a notable West Ham fan once said: here comes the future, and you can't run from it.

Incidentally, that first trip to the Boleyn Ground in 1913 finished in a draw, which has tended to be the usual outcome in our recent visits too.  It'd be a shame to break the tradition, wouldn't it?

Rob Hulse's brace kick-starts Albion's rampage from 3-0 down to winning 4-3; the Boleyn Ground, 8th November 2003