Chris Brunt interview: 'I'm not daft, I know time is running out, promotion with West Brom would make me proud.'

He was only 20 at the time, enjoying his first full season with the Owls, but he scored a crucial goal in the semi-final second leg against Brentford before helping them beat Hartlepool 4-2 in the final at the Millennium Stadium.

Fourteen years later and Brunt now has three promotions on his CV, including two automatic ones with Albion.

He's now chasing a fourth, and after more than 400 games with the Baggies, he wants to make the most of what will most likely be his final chance of glory.

“I’d say so, unless somebody gives me a new set of legs!" he smiles. “I'm not daft, I know time is running out for me in my career.

"If we could get promoted at West Brom, over my time here, it would be one of the things I’d look back on when I finish and be most proud of.

“Last season was a difficult season and his one was always going to be difficult given that in Portugal back in June we only had 10 or 12 first-team players.

“To get to this stage now and still have a chance of getting promoted, if we could do that it would be a fantastic achievement."

Brunt can still recall going up with Wednesday back in 2005, and knows what promotion via the play-offs tastes like.

“It's a great way to go up," he said. “We took 48,000 fans (to Cardiff), it was an unbelievable day out, but we almost blew it, we were four minutes from getting beaten. We scored a penalty and went on to win it in extra time.

"It’s such a lottery and that’s the truth, you never know what’s going to happen, a bad bounce of the ball, a refereeing decision, it’s important that we focus on our own things. Hopefully, we’ll get the opportunity of a third game.”

Albion have the small matter of two fiercely-contested derbies against their closest rivals Villa coming up, and Brunt will be a key part in the Baggies' team.

The club captain has emerged as Albion's conductor at the base of midfield under caretaker Jimmy Shan, and with Gareth Barry and Jake Livermore both injured, there is even more resting on his shoulders.

This is his 12th season at The Hawthorns, and he is just as important as ever. He is expected to stay next season, whatever happens over the next few weeks, but he knows there is a lot resting on these games.

"I don’t understand parachute payments and the way they work but it is an important season for the club," admitted Brunt. "It's a good chance to bounce straight back and obviously not lose out.

"If we can’t do that everybody is under no illusions there will be a lot of changes here in the summer, which is not nice.

"It’s never nice to see because it doesn’t just affect the playing squad and the coaching staff, it affects people all round the club as well.

"You’ve just got to go and try to win two football matches. You’ve got to try and put that to the back of your mind as best you can.

"It’s two matches against your local rivals that are going to be tough. We drew with them at home, albeit controversially! And we beat them at Villa Park.

"We’ve shown over the last few seasons we’re capable of beating this team. We’ve just got to make sure we get that right over the next two games."

Despite finishing four points above Villa in the table, the general consensus in the region is that Albion are underdogs for these two legs.

That is partly down to Dean Smith's side recently going on a club record winning streak, and partly down to the managerial upheaval at The Hawthorns that saw Darren Moore sacked two months ago and replaced by former under-23s boss Jimmy Shan.

"It’s not been a smooth season," admitted Brunt. "But obviously we’re there to do a job and get promoted automatically.

"From the turn of the year those couple of months before Darren left, the results weren’t good enough, especially at home.

"In this league you have to make sure you win your home games. We’ve managed to do that over the last few weeks. We’ve got a half-decent record at The Hawthorns going into these games.

"You’ve got to make it hard for teams to come here, especially in the play-offs. It’s basically a shoot-out.

"The season's panned out the way it has, there's nothing you can do about it now. You might as well scrap the last 10 months of the season, it's down to these two games now."

Were Shan to take the Baggies up, it would be a remarkable story. The former under-7s coach only has taken charge of 10 senior games in the dugout but Brunt has been impressed.

"He's done well hasn't he, considering the circumstances. Him and Mooro are close friends, so it's a difficult scenario.

"It maybe was a bit controversial from the outside but as players you’ve just got to get on with it.

"Jimmy didn’t expect to be here so long but things have gone alright.

"We’ve won five in a row at home, away hasn’t been as good but that’s part of this league.

"We’re not playing free flowing football but we’re getting jobs done and at this stage of the season that’s all you need to do.

"It doesn’t matter if you have 500 passes or 10, if you score a goal and the other team doesn’t, you’ve won the game.

"Jimmy is just a genuine guy. He has been thrown into the deep end but has dealt with it well."

With three promotions under his belt, Brunt has been here before, and he seems reassuringly calm on the eve of two such highly-anticipated games.

Perhaps because he's already etched his name into Albion's history books, having scored the free-kick that gave the Baggies the Championship title.

"2008 is a stick out for me, scoring a goal and running off into the corner," he said. "People send me that photo all the time.

"It’s one of those I’ll always remember and will always be remembered for when I eventually get kicked out of the side door.

"That one was my first chance to get in the Premier League so I enjoyed that one.

"The second one, us and Newcastle were the two best teams in the league by a long way. That season it was never really in doubt. That’s how it felt for us as players.

"This one really is up in the air. You just don’t know. There’s four big teams left and anyone you could argue is good enough to get promoted. It’s going to be tough."

With that in mind, where would promotion this season rank in the 34-year-old's career? “It would be one of the best feelings I’ve experienced in football," he smiles.