[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

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

This weekend will see Tony Pulis join the fairly select group of gaffers to have achieved a thousand matches as a manager in English football, and you have to wonder whether the football gods had this one scripted all along, because there's really no more fitting place for him to celebrate that distinction than at the Britannia Stadium. The question is whether or not it will prove a happy occasion for him, and by extension, for Albion.

The signs are good. Against the Potters in the Pulis era we've played three and won three, and Stoke's start to the season has been even more shambolic than last year, leaving them propping up the table with a weighty goal difference. In addition, there were signs of promise to our performance against West Ham (even with the caveats that we looked a nervy bunch at times, and they spent the entire match defending like a pissed Villa), and we look a much improved team with Nacer Chadli in the middle of the park. However, the pressure will be on Mark Hughes to turn things around, and Albion being Albion, this could prove a very tricky one.

Still, here's hoping for another cheerful Saturday, and thousands more ahead of it.

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