For someone whose team could have ended the day in the third division (or whatever it is called these days) Albion boss Mark McGhee looked remarkably relaxed at Millmoor on Saturday.

When he trod the sodden turf an hour before his clubs most important match of the season (well, until Sunday anyway) he was grinning from ear to ear as he joked about his last visit to Rotherham when a fan threw a pie at him.

Thirty minutes later, as the players warmed up in front of the travelling hordes, McGhee sat on the wall in front of the main stand chewing the cud with the club doctor. It looked as if the prospect of relegation was the last thing on his mind.

And when he emerged just before kickoff to take the acclaim of 2,500 shirt-wearing, scarf-waving, balloon-popping Albion fans he had even taken his tie off.

If McGhee was fretting about his sides future he hid it well. Mind you, it must help ease a managers state of mind when you look on the pitch and see someone like Guy Butters cajoling every one of his team-mates in the moments before kickoff just to make sure they were aware of the importance of the next 90 minutes.

Not that they needed reminding. Skipper Charlie Oatway may be the heartbeat of the Albion team but none epitomises the spirit which should now keep the club in such exalted company for another year than big Butts.

Rotherham had their moments which was always to be expected and there was more goalmouth excitement than the fans had the right to expect between two teams with two of the worst goalscoring records in the Championship. But while Butters was there, talking the more inexperienced members of Albions back four through a nerve-shredding hour-and-a-half and winning just about every aerial challenge he contested you always felt the one goal that was scored in Albions favour would be decisive.

Butters has to put up with more than other players. Amid the whippet-like frames of his team-mates he is a throwback to the days when footballers ate steak for their pre-match meal and were on the lash before the second reading of the classified football results at the end of Sports Report.

He was even getting stick about his size 45 minutes after the final whistle when a couple of neanderthal beer monsters spilled out of Rotherhams sponsors lounge.

But when you are scrapping for your very future he is absolutely the sort of person you need around. The fact that both Rotherham strikers were substituted with an hour to play speaks volumes for the way Butters and Adam El-Abd performed at the heart of Albions defence.

Quite simply, he was colossal and there was not a bigger cheer all day from the away end than when the big man put his boot through the ball in the last few seconds of injury time and sent it soaring in the general direction of Huddersfield.

Moments later he even managed to direct a clearance off the back of a startled opponents head for an Albion throw-in and the job was done. I dont know whether he meant it but I wouldnt be surprised.

These sort of muckand-bullets occasions are manna from heaven for the likes of Butters, Oatway and Richard Carpenter, for whom no season would seem the same were it not to involve a relegation or promotion battle.

Then, half an hour after the conclusion of this battle, Butters was already relishing the prospect of the next battle against an Ipswich side who still have a chance of reaching the promised land without the agonies of the play-offs. Meanwhile, I wonder which Albion player was the first to send a text to their old boss Micky Adams along the lines of MAKE SURE U WIN NXT WK.

The main thing is, as far as Butters and Co. are concerned, is that Albion are masters of their own destiny going into the final match. And when they were losing for the sixth time in a row at Preston last month you would have got better odds on Michael Howard having to organise furniture removals for Friday morning.

Only Leeds have brought more away fans to Millmoor this season which is hardly surprising as it is only 20 miles down the M1.

But I cannot believe they gave their side better support than the 2,500 who travelled from Sussex. The only time the decibel level dropped was in those final few minutes.

It must be hard to get another rendition of Sussex By The Sea going when your fingers are permanently wedged between your teeth and your nails are disappearing fast.

Butters was one of the last to leave. The cheers of 2,500 Albion fans ringing in his ears made it a perfect end to a perfect day. Now they must all hope there is one more left before another extraordinary season in the history of a club who seem to relish the relentless fight against the odds is over.