Chris Hughton says he is ahead of schedule as he celebrates 500 days in charge of Albion.

Hughton is preparing his team for "two cup finals" in the Championship play-offs against Sheffield Wednesday.

A lucrative trip to Wembley, with a place in the Premier League up for grabs, awaits against Hull or Derby at the end of the month if Albion get the better of the Owls over two legs at Hillsborough tonight and at the Amex on Monday evening.

It is a much rosier picture than when Hughton was appointed, with the club stuck in the relegation zone and in danger of dropping back into League One.

Hughton, who still has two years left on his contract, told The Argus: "We are certainly ahead of schedule. The players have surpassed my expectations this season.

"Did I expect at the start of the season to be on equal points with the team that finished second? The answer to that would be no.

"I think I was fortunate when I came through the door that it's a very well run club. Not just in what you see on the football pitch but in the departments, and we have wonderful environment here.

"We were just on the back of a good win and a draw. We were still in the bottom three but it didn't feel like a club that was struggling in the bottom three.

"So that was certainly an advantage and I have been able to use the elements of what we have here, which is a very good environment, and slowly determine what I want from the team."

The play-offs present a unique challenge, even for a manager with Hughton's experience. Two games in quick succession and, unlike in European ties, away goals are an irrelevance.

He has been through them once before, with Birmingham in Albion's first season at the Amex in 2011-12.

They finished fourth, a point and a place ahead of Blackpool, but were knocked out 3-2 on aggregate by Ian Holloway's side who went on to be promoted.

After losing the first leg 1-0 in Lancashire, Birmingham almost turned the tie around from 2-0 down in the home leg, their 62nd game of a gruelling campaign which included playing in the Europa League.

What did Hughton learn from the unusual demands of the end-of-season shoot-outs? "The play-offs are definitely like two cup finals," he said.

"We will arrive in Sheffield to a home atmosphere. We experienced some of that on Saturday (at Middlesbrough), where the atmosphere was very much a home atmosphere with the flags, and the goal obviously lifted them.

"The only thing I can say - which is more about common sense than experience - is that you want to be still in the game come the second leg.

"At Birmingham we made a really good game of it. In the end we lost by one goal but we were the team that was pushing and looked like we might get back on level terms and possibly win it.

"So it's very much how the game goes but certainly you want to still be in the game."

The difference this time is Hughton is in charge of a team that finished 15 points above their opponents. Can he use that to his advantage?

"From a psychological point of view then probably yes," he said. "They (Sheffield) will probably take something from the fact that on both occasions we drew against them (0-0), so we haven't beaten them.

"These are all the minor things that you think about before the game that you can use, the psychology. But ultimately it's on the day and you generally don't have too much control over how the players perform.

"You can set the team up tactically, make them aware of their strengths and weaknesses and so on, but once the whistle goes then it's about a team performing.

"You're very confident you have a team that will give it their best but nobody knows what type of performance you'll give.

"I just hope it's a performance that is good enough to win the game, and if it's not good enough to win the game, then it's good enough to give us a a fighting chance to win come the second game."

And so Hughton will stand in the technical area at Hillsborough on his 500th day as Albion manager, his work largely done. The meticulous preparations will be complete. He can make tactical calls, issue instructions at half-time shaped by the opening 45 minutes and change players - but it will be mainly down to them.

"You never feel helpless because you are part and parcel of it," he said. "But I'm not saying anything that doesn't apply to the very best of managers.

"We do the job to the best that we can and then you hope the players put in a winning performance. Thankfully for me, the lads have done that for the majority of the season."