Level heads - and a warm coat - are needed at Blackpool

Many Albion fans will know The Levellers well. I will have to admit, the punk fusion band aren't necessarily my kind of music, but I've been reminded of the Brighton musicians in the last 10 days and again ahead of this weekend.

As the BBC ramped up its coverage of the FA Cup, I must have heard several pundits talking about things being great "levellers".

After such a big weekend of upsets - with Bradford achieving arguably one of the biggest the competition has ever seen - we were treated to re-runs of Hereford's Ronnie Radford firing home on a bog of a pitch to beat Newcastle in 1972. He is quoted as saying: "I just thought 'I've got to hit this'. It could have gone in the car park. But it didn't."

Of course, nowadays the pitch is less of a factor, because surfaces have generally improved over the years and Chelsea had no excuses at Stamford Bridge last weekend.

Today, though, Albion don't face an "upset" on their trip to Blackpool, but the Bloomfield Road pitch could be a huge challenge. It has had problems over the years and this season is no exception.

Chris Hughton, however, is a manager who is meticulous and will factor that into his planning and team selection for the match. The weather is once again set to be harsh (I think I caught pneumonia last year - why oh why in January), but hopefully the team will cope.

Despite being bottom, Blackpool have picked up some good points at home recently. Let's hope the Seagulls fans that brave the elements are treated to three points, if not a great spectacle on the fractured pitch. Let's hope it's not a great leveller.