RITCHIE Humphreys' childhood may have been spent at the family home just over a mile away from Bramall Lane but it was Sheffield United's steel city rivals, Wednesday, that developed the player's football talent.

As a teenager on schoolboy forms at Hillsborough, Humphreys went to Wembley in 1993 to witness the Owls in both FA Cup and League Cup final action and has never been to a showpiece since.

Tomorrow, 12 years and a far cry later, the south Yorkshireman is preparing for the most important game of his career and the most important game in Hartlepool United's entire 97-year existence - and it is, in a weird twist of fate, against his first employer.

A lot has happened since Humphreys burst onto the scene in 1996, when he was hailed as a star of the future by Dutch legend Marco van Basten, and he had successive goal of the month contenders for Premiership strikes against Aston Villa and Leicester.

Not only has the player suffered a drop in league status, but the once mighty Sheffield Wednesday have also suffered a similar fall into League One.

Tomorrow Wednesday - now managed by Paul Sturrock, the club's fifth manager since Humphreys departed - are looking to take their first step towards reclaiming a place among England's elite but are faced with the hurdle of having to overcome Hartlepool United, a club with less glamorous tradition but just as much pride.

And Humphreys, acknowledging that only the kitman and winger Matt Hamshaw are left from his Hillsborough days, would love nothing more than to ensure he helps Pool clinch an unprecedented place in the Championship next season.

"It's definitely the biggest game of my career. I've been at Hartlepool for four seasons and the nucleus of players that have been here during that time have progressed," said Humphreys, who would prefer to keep the true identity of the Sheffield club he supported as a boy under wraps for this particular weekend.

"We've had three play-offs and a promotion in those four years, so to go to Cardiff for such a major final with the potential of getting into the Championship with a group of lads who aren't just team-mates but such good friends, you can't top that, it means so much.

"I don't think I can put it into context the achievement it would be to take Hartlepool into the Championship.

" It's a great day out for the town, families and everyone who works at the club, it's a tremendous occasion but there's a football match to be won on Sunday.

"We're 90 minutes away from the Championship."

Despite moving up to Durham, having initially commuted from Sheffield before in his early days at Victoria Park, Humphreys still returns to his hometown for the occasional Sunday dinner at his mothers.

There will be no hint of meat and Yorkshire puddings for him tomorrow lunch-time, though, and he is just hoping for Championship football - a different gravy for everyone at the club.

"I'm sure you guys will make more of it being against Sheffield Wednesday than I will. It doesn't really matter who it's against to be honest," said the 27-year-old.

"Friends and family will be there and they're Sheffield people as well. Some of them are Wednesdayites so they'll be going in the Wednesday end.

"For me it's about Hartlepool. I still get down to Sheffield regularly and my mum and dad will be at Cardiff to see it."

Humphreys' character is such that he does not worry too much about the past, instead he chooses to look to the future.

While many will question what went wrong and why he was shown the door by his then manager Paul Jewell, the midfielder, so often the heartbeat of the Pool side, is more of the attitude that he has learnt from the experience.

Humphreys readily admits that his six years as a pro at Wednesday - making 43 starts although spent time on loan before he dropped to Cambridge in 2001 - have helped shape his career and approach to the game.

"You had to try to earn yourself a professional contract. There were enough senior pros around to help keep my feet on the ground when I had such a good start," he recalled.

"I got good advice at that age. I scored a goal but if it hadn't been for the other guys we wouldn't have got the result and I've always thought like that as I've got older.

"Peter Atherton was club captain at the time and I learnt a lot about the way he went about things both on matchdays and in training.

"There were bigger names around at the time but that's why he was club captain. He's such a good leader and gave good advice to people like myself.

"I've been a professional since I was 18. To do my YTS at Sheffield Wednesday was fantastic because they were a Premiership club. To turn professional there and play in the Premiership was a big honour for me.

"But things change in footballer's careers and these last four years at Hartlepool have been tremendous.

"To be a part of a club going forward and to meet so many nice people who are team-mates is incredible."

Having recently signed a new two-year deal at Pool, despite interest from League One champions Luton, Humphreys has clearly shown his loyalty and love for a club that have re-ignited his career.

Come 5pm tomorrow he will know whether he will be a Championship player come August and if the sleeping giant that is Sheffield Wednesday continues to lay with its eyes shut.

Read more about Hartlepool here.