A look back at some of the classic home games against West Bromwich Albion over the past 40 years.
Perhaps one of the best seasons for Saints V West Brom was at the Dell in season 1975/76, the Baggies, or Throstles as they were more commonly known back then arrived on the opening day of that season as one of the favourites alongside ourselves for promotion, 15,246 including a good away support saw them destroyed in the August sunshine 3-0, goals from Nick Holmes in the 6th minute, Mick Channon in the 17th put Saints in the driving seat and then ten minutes after the break Channon completed the scoring to make it Saints first opening day win for 10 years.
But that would not be West Brom's last visit that season, they returned in February for an FA Cup 5th round replay, this time the crowd was 27,614 and Mick Channon again did the greatest damage with a hat trick, again Saints took an early lead and doubled that in the 17th minute to make the Baggies suffer deja vu, but it was worse than that, the third arrived on the half hour mark and the game was completely over on 74 minutes whe the fourth arrives, Paul Gilchrist being the other scorer who notched the second. The season ended well for both club though, Saints as we know won the cup whilst West Brom went up in 3rd spot.
On Saints return to the top flight in 78/79, hostilities resumed between the two clubs, another FA Cup 5th Round replay saw the Dell's new reduced capacity of 26,000 tested to the full with 25,775 officially inside and thousands more locked outside when the gates were locked half an hour before kick off, Saints won 2-1, this time needing extra time before triumphing 2-1, the Dell also hosted two 1-1 draws in a row in the league before the arrival of Kevin Keegan in 80/81, both clubs were aiming for European qualification and in February met at the Dell in front of 21,910, this game is remembered for the opening goal, Ivan Golac blasting a scorching 25 yarder, sadly for Saints it wasnt the only goal of the game and West Brom lead for a short time before Steve Moran equalised on the hour mark to finsih the scoring at 2-2.
1981/82 saw a 0-0 draw to make it four draws in a row in home league fixtures before 1982/83 finally saw the first league home win in five attempts, 4-1 to Saints in the last game before Xmas, the goals being shared around as Danny Wallace, David Armstrong, Steve Moran and David Pucket made a Cyrille Regis goal academical. 1983/84 was positively quiet after that one a Steve Moran penalty on 19 minutes being all that seperated the sides.
1984/85 was perhaps the best home game in terms of goals, Saints looked to be home and dry on 52 minutes when Ian Baird scored his second to add to goals from Dave Armstrong and Danny Wallace to make it 4-1, but a spirited fightback from the visitors in the final ten minutes saw them pull back to 4-3 and make it tighter than it should have been at the end.
The following season saw the doomed for relegation Baggies arrive on New Years day 1986 and although it would be goaless at half time, Glenn Cockerill opened the scoring followed by Armstrong & Wallece yet again to round off a 3-1 win with West Brom finishing bottom on 24 points some 18 adrift of safety come the end of the season, this would be their last ever game at the Dell and we would not see them again in Southampton for over 16 years, by which we were in St Mary's.
2002/03 saw their return, this time in the Premier league James Beattie on 8 minutes scoring the only goal of the game, again they were relegated at the end of the season, but this time it would only be two years before their return, Anders Svensson scoring a late equaliser to add to his opener in a 2-2 draw, sadly there would be a relegation at the end of the season for one club and this time it was us, the Baggies pulling off what would be a miraculous escape come the final day, the two points we dropped on this November day costing us dearly.
But two seasons later Albion were back in the Championship to join us, an early season 0-0 draw being the result, 2007/08 saw their last visit to St Mary's our 3-2 win seeing goals from Stern John (2) & Rudi Skacel, after the game their was no inkling of what would happen next, Saints would plummet and would need the help of a goaless draw at West Brom in the penultimate game of the season, a point apiece that not only sent West Brom up but gave Saints a chance in the final game of the season which as we know they took and stayed up.
Since then our paths havent crossed at home and now the Baggies return with Saints looking to continue a fine tradition of not losing to them at home, indeed you have to go back to August 1969 for the last time we lost at home to them, when two late goals gave them a 2-0 victory and this remains our only league defeat to them since 1946/47 (they won a cup replay in 1968) those two being our only home league defeats to them in history.
As we go into the game on Saturday the complete league record home and away stands at 20 wins apiece with 19 draws, although we shade the FA Cup record with 4 wins to their 1 with 3 draws, will it still be honours even in terms of League form come 5pm on Saturday ? or will we be able to just sneak our noses in front.