Dean Wilkins has been Nigel Adkins’ right-hand man in recent years.

The pair have taken charge of Southampton, Reading and Sheffield United and now there is talk of Adkins being a contender to take over at his old club Tranmere.

But there is another link between the two men – and it has relevance to today’s fixture at Wigan.

Wilkins scored the first of his 31 Albion goals with a free-kick past Adkins, the Wigan goalkeeper, in a third-tier thriller at the old Springfield Park 29 years ago this week.

It was part of eventful 3-3 draw which saw Adkins go off injured, two strikers score twwo apiece and Albion boss Barry Lloyd fume at the referee.

When their paths crossed, Wilkins was just settling back into Albion life after being snapped up for £10,000 from Dutch outfit Zwolle in the summer while Adkins, who was 22 at the time, was early in his second season at a club for whom he would play 155 league matches.

The Argus:

Adkins, pictured above, went off on the hour after a clash with John Crumplin, meaning full-back John Butler had to go in goal.

But that was not the main talking point after the game.

Lloyd said: “We deserved to win. I honestly believe that two of Wigan’s goals should not have been given.

“Their first goal was blatantly offside and their equaliser in the last minute was dubious as well. I’m not alone in believing John Keeley was pushed off the ball.

“We played extremely well. We showed a lot of character on a very sticky pitch.”

Mark Hilditch scored two for Wigan and Kevin Bremner netted twice for Albion, who would be promoted that season, in front of just 2,392 at the ground Wigan called home until their move to the JJB in 1999.

Wilkins was brought into the side after a 0-0 draw with Preston to add a bit of width.

He opened his Albion account on 54 minutes with a 20-yard free-kick to the delight of 300 away fans.

That cancelled out Hilditch’s 39th-minute opener, put away with team-mate Bobby Campbell standing offside.

Adkins was injured with the score at 1-1 but Hilditch restored the Wigan lead, only for Bremner to reply at the far post from Wilkins’ corner.

Bremner edged Albion ahead on 82 minutes when he took down Steve Gatting’s free-kick to score before Keeley denied Hilditch and was impeded in his efforts to reach the rebound as Chris Thompson pounced to level.

Albion: Keeley, Brown, Dublin, Rougvie, Gatting, Hutchings, Curbishley, Crumplin, Wilkins, Bremner, Nelson. Subs not used: Armstrong, Rowell.