Albion boss falls for Cup tradition

The Italian arrived at Chelsea in 1996 with little knowledge of the unique magic of the world's oldest knockout tournament. But two famous Wembley goals and two winners' medals later, the Italian will forever be linked with the FA Cup Albion enter tomorrow at the Galpharm Stadium.

"I understand now why the FA Cup is so important in this country having been involved in it myself," said Di Matteo.

"It is part of English culture and tradition and the beauty of it is that the whole country gets involved from the lowest league to the highest.

"That's what excites everybody. I would love to have a little cup run. If you win games it is obviously good for the confidence and the mood of the camp, and dressing room. Every win can help that."

Di Matteo endeared himself to Albion fans long before his appointment as Hawthorns head coach by scoring the only goal against Villa in the 2000 final, the last showpiece match at the old Wembley Stadium.

But the Italian's own favourite Cup memory came three years earlier when he scored from 30 yards just 43 seconds into the game as Chelsea beat Middlesbrough to lift their first major domestic trophy in 27 years.

The goal was the fastest in any final at the old Wembley and the quickest overall until last season, when it was trumped by Everton's Louis Saha.

"Saha broke my record this year but that first goal was very important for Chelsea to win a trophy for the first time in 20-odd years so that was the best," he said.

"It was the start of a successful era for the club. The next year we played in Europe in the Cup Winners' Cup and we built some momentum on the back of it.

"In 2000 we played Villa in the last FA Cup final at the old stadium.

"It was a big occasion. It's always a fantastic day to be in the FA Cup final. You walk out in front of 80,000 people at Wembley and I got goosepimples during the English national anthem.

"If you score the winner it's even better."

Di Matteo's intimate knowledge of the Cup was gleaned when he arrived at Stamford Bridge. But he admits even as a youngster he was intrigued by the competition.

"Everyone across the world watches the FA Cup final and I did in Switzerland when I was growing up," he said.

"England had this reputation for always having rain, yet every time you would watch the FA Cup final it was sunny.

"I always wondered why England had this reputation for rain.

"When I came over here we played Oxford United at home and the stadium was full. In Italy that would never happen."

Di Matteo's men head for Yorkshire tomorrow looking to avoid a giant-killing.

And the head coach is in no doubt about the secret of progressing.

"We have to play well," he said, "because they haven't lost for a long time at home.

"Huddersfield are a big club. They had 16,000 people for their last game, they have a big budget for their level and have some good players. They are bigger than people think."

Di Matteo will go head-to-head on the sidelines tomorrow with a former playing adversary in ex-Newcastle midfielder Lee Clark.

And the Huddersfield boss is full of praise for his opposite number.

"Roberto and I crossed each other's paths on a few occasions during our playing days," said Clark, who crossed the north east divide when he later appeared for arch-rivals Sunderland.

"Just like Paul Ince, he was a world class footballer and as a foreign player he enhanced the English game, changing a lot of thought processes as to how footballers should prepare for games off the pitch.

"Newcastle and West Brom are the two top teams in their league at the moment and when we visited Newcastle earlier in the season (in the Carling Cup) we took them on.

"We didn't sit back and try to hit them on the break, we went and played attacking football.

"If we can put in a similar performance, both individually and collectively, we could well get a result and cause an upset."