When the draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals was made my phone in Perth rang out with a local call from my Baggies friend, Irishman Eamon Byrne. The game suddenly took on added significance to both of us as a wager of a $50 bottle of wine was placed.

With the added significance of a place at Wembley there is little doubt that one or other of us will be making a trip back from Downunder to see their team in the semi-final.

The vast majority of Gasheads will never have seen their team at this stage in the FA Cup - they have only reached the quarter-finals twice before.

The first time was in 1950-51 season when they held mighty Newcastle United to a draw at St James' Park, but went down 3-1 in the replay at Eastville. It was at this time that "Goodnight Irene" was first heard reverberating around North Bristol.

Rovers' next visit to the 6th Round of the FA Cup was on 1st March 1958, when they went down 3-1 at Craven Cottage to Fulham. In the previous Round Rovers had come out 4-3 winners in one of the most famous Bristol derbies.

When the draw was made this year there was no doubt that a home fixture against a Championship team would have been the biggest wish for everyone in North Bristol. The prospect of facing a West Bromwich Albion team who top the current away form guides for the Championship would excite any Rovers fan.

Baggies Boss Tony Mowbray is hoping his walking wounded will be fit for Sunday's Cup game, but has expressed concern over Filipe Teixeira's knee. Roman Bednar and Carl Hoefkens picked up knocks in the mid-week win at Sheffield Wednesday but should recover in time for the Quarter Final clash.

But Teixeira's season is in doubt with no clues as yet as to how bad his knee injury is, due to the swelling. The Portuguese midfielder will have more tests, with Mowbray saying: "It's a concern that the swelling hasn't gone down around his knee yet. We hope to know more later in the week. I think Roman will be fine he just got a knock on his calf."

"Carl Hoefkens got a knock and we'd made changes so he ended up playing in midfield. But I think they'll both be okay."

In that victory striker Kevin Phillips broke Sheffield Wednesday's hearts with a last-gasp winner as the Midlanders kept alive their hopes of automatic promotion.
Phillips, who was named Championship player of the year on Sunday, headed in James Morrison's cross five minutes in to time added on to win the contest.

The Owls were already enraged by the decision to send off Jermaine Johnson after a tussle with Jonathan Greening. Robert Koren had earlier gone close with two efforts for the Baggies.

Afterwards Mowbray hailed Kevin Phillips as the Baggies looked like enduring yet another frustrating night on their league travels after spurning a host of golden opportunities to seal all three points earlier in the game. But Phillips notched his 18th goal of the campaign in dramatic fashion in the 94th minute.

"Their keeper made one or two saves and ultimately Super Kev came off the bench and did what he does best," said Mowbray. "I told him to go on and play with his brain rather than legs or any other attributes.

"It wasn't a night for pretty football, it was a night for using your brain and Kevin did that by being in the right place at the right time and took his chance when it came. I don't think our squad is great in number but it is good in quality for the Championship."

"Morrison, Miller and Phillips coming off the bench is pretty decent at this level and tonight it helped us win a football match."

Looking at the history of our opposition, the club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 by workers from George Salter's Spring Works in West Bromwich. They were renamed West Bromwich Albion in 1880, becoming the first team to adopt the Albion suffix.

In 1885 the club turned professional, and in 1886 they reached the FA Cup final for the first time, losing 2-0 to Blackburn Rovers in a replay. They reached the final again in 1887, but lost 2-0 to Aston Villa. In 1888 the team won the trophy for the first time, beating strong favourites Preston North End 2-1 in the final.

In March 1888, William McGregor wrote to what he considered to be the top five English teams, including Albion, informing them of his intention to form an association of clubs that would play each other home and away each season. Thus when the Football League started later that year, Albion became one of the twelve founder members.

Albion's second FA Cup success came in 1892, beating Aston Villa 3-0. They met Villa again in the 1895 final, but lost 1-0. The team suffered relegation to Division Two in 1900-01, their first season at The Hawthorns. They were promoted as champions the following season but relegated again in 1903-04, to set the pattern for much of what was to follow later. The club won the Division Two championship once more in 1910-11, and the following season reached another FA Cup Final, where they were defeated by Second Division Barnsley in a replay.

Albion won the Football League title in 1919-20 for the only time in their history following the end of the First World War, their totals of 104 goals and 60 points both breaking the previous league records. The team finished as Division One runners-up in 1924-25, narrowly losing out to Huddersfield Town, but were relegated in 1926-27.

In 1930-31 they won promotion as well as the FA Cup, beating Birmingham 2-1 in the final. The "Double" of winning the FA Cup and promotion has not been achieved before or since. Albion reached the final again in 1935, losing to Sheffield Wednesday, but were relegated three years later. They gained promotion in 1948-49, and there followed the club's longest unbroken spell in the top flight of English football, a total of 24 years.

In 1953-54 Albion came close to being the first team in the 20th century to win the League and Cup double. They succeeded in winning the FA Cup, beating Preston 3-2, but a loss of form towards the end of the season meant that they finished as runners-up to fierce rivals Wolves in the league. They remained one of the top English sides for the remainder of the decade, reaching the semi-final of the 1957 FA Cup and achieving three consecutive top five finishes in Division One between 1957-58 and 1959-60.

Although their league form was less impressive during the 1960s, the second half of the decade saw West Bromwich Albion establish a reputation as a successful cup side. In 1966, under manager Jimmy Hagan, they beat West Ham in their first League Cup appearance, winning 5-3 on aggregate in the last two-legged final. The following year they reached the final again, the first at Wembley, but lost 3-2 to Third Division QPR after being 2-0 up at half-time.

Albion's cup form continued under Hagan's successor Alan Ashman. He guided the club to their last major trophy to date, the 1968 FA Cup, when they beat Everton in extra time thanks to a single goal from Jeff Astle. They reached the FA Cup semi-final and European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final in 1969, and were defeated 2-1 by Manchester City in the 1970 League Cup Final

The club were less successful during the reign of Don Howe, and were relegated to Division Two at the end of 1972-1973, but gained promotion three years later under the guidance of player-manager Johnny Giles. Under Ron Atkinson, Albion reached the 1978 FA Cup semi-final but lost to Ipswich Town. In 1978-79, the team finished third in Division One, their highest placing for over 20 years, and also reached the UEFA Cup quarter-final, where they were defeated by Red Star Belgrade.

In his second spell as manager, Ronnie Allen guided the team to both domestic cup semi-finals in 1981-82, the last time the club has reached that stage in a cup competition. The mid-1980s saw the start of Albion's longest and deepest decline. They were relegated in 1985-86 with the worst record in the club's history, beginning a period of sixteen years outside the top flight. Five years later the club were relegated to the Third Division for the first time.

Albion had spent the majority of their history in the top-flight of English football, but when the FA Premier League was founded in 1992 the club found themselves in the third tier, which had been renamed Division Two. In 1992-93 Albion finished fourth and entered the playoffs for the first time, having just missed out the previous year. Albion's first appearance at Wembley for over twenty years?and their last ever at the original stadium?saw them beat Port Vale 3-0 to return to the second level - now renamed the First Division.

Manager Ossie Ardiles then joined Tottenham Hotspur however, and a succession of managers over the next few seasons saw Albion consolidate their Division One status without ever mounting a serious promotion challenge.

The appointment of Gary Megson in March 2000 heralded an upturn in the club's fortunes. Megson guided Albion to Division One safety in 1999-2000, and to the playoffs a year later. He went on to lead the club to promotion to the Premiership in 2001-02. After being relegated in their first Premiership season, they made an immediate return to the top flight in 2003-04.

In 2004-05 Megson's successor, former Albion midfielder Bryan Robson led the team to a last-day "Great Escape", when Albion became the first Premiership club to avoid relegation having been bottom of the table at Christmas. However they failed to avoid the drop the following season and Robson was replaced by Tony Mowbray in October 2006. The club competed in the Championship promotion playoff final at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2007, but lost 1-0 to Derby County.

So far this season the Baggies have competed well without ever looking like leading the pack. The recent ascendancy of Bristol City has taken everyone by surprise.

Considering that the Baggies were founded in 1878 and Rovers in 1883 it is perhaps surprising that the teams have only ever met eight times in competitive football. In fact this week-end is the first time the teams have ever met in the FA Cup!

The first game between the clubs took place on 22 October 1974 at Eastville and Rovers secured their only ever victory over Albion by a 2-1 score line. The return game at the Hawthorns saw an exciting 2-2 draw fought out.

The latest game between the Gas and the Baggies was a League Cup encounter in 1993/94 season where the Baggies won the first leg 4-0 in Bath to effectively kill off the replay, in which Rovers recovered some dignity by gaining a 0-0 draw.

There are strong ties between the clubs and several players have played for both teams. Perhaps most memorably and most successfully two Baggies 'imports' in the early 1970's were keeper Dick Sheppard and winger Kenny Stephens. More recently Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington have found themselves at the Hawthorns having previously broken into League action at the Mem. Last season, of course, Stuart Nicholson had a very successful loan spell with Rovers during their promotion success.

The prize for the winning club in this tie is enormous and there is the distinct possibility that they may feature in European football given that the remaining Premier League teams may very well already be engaged in a senior tournament. May the best team win!