by Michael Baggaley

STOKE City captain Andy Griffin is vowing his team won't crumble in front of 50,000 at St James' Park tomorrow as he returns to the scene of some of the finest moments of his career.

Griffin knows the intimidating atmosphere better than any Stoke player, having left City as an 18-year-old to spend six years with the Magpies.

He is confident Stoke will handle the experience much better than last season when he watched them hammered 4-1 in the FA Cup on the day Kevin Keegan returned as Newcastle manager.

Griffin watched from the stands that evening, having just rejoined Stoke from Derby.

He said: "It is a memorable place and I would love to see them rise again and become a top-four club because there aren't many stadiums you would rather play at when it is bouncing.

"But we have a more experienced team now. It will be a tough game, but I don't think it will be a game like last year when we were totally outclassed.

"I don't think we really touched the ball, so we are determined that won't be the case this time around."

The 29-year-old is also confident the team won't suffer a hangover from Tuesday's Carling Cup defeat to Derby when he conceded a last-minute penalty for the Rams' winner.

He said: "We got pummelled 5-0 at Manchester United and then we came back here and put in a good performance against West Brom to win.

"You need to have belief and not feel sorry for yourself regardless of how you play personally, how the team performs or how heavy the defeat is. If you do feel sorry for yourself, you will get beaten again because you can guarantee the next team you play won't feel sorry for you. They will want to beat you by four or five if they can."

Griffin says his time at Newcastle was the making of him after Kenny Dalglish signed him for £1.5m from Stoke in 1998.

He played in an FA Cup final and UEFA Cup semi-final for the Magpies, but is most fondly remembered on Tyneside for a winner against Juventus which helped Newcastle qualify from their 2002-2003 Champions League group.

He said: "People say I scored, but I smashed the ball across the box, it hit Gianluigi Buffon's elbow and went in. But it wasn't about me scoring, it was about three points.

"It was part of an unbelievable time in my career when we finished third, fourth and fifth in the Premier League under Bobby Robson.

"Before I moved from Stoke, I was very comfortable. I had just met my girlfriend, who is my wife now. I was living in a two-up two-down terrace, didn't have a car, but was very content with life because I was playing football and enjoying myself.

"Then I was catapulted up to Newcastle, walked into their dressing room and there were Alan Shearer, John Barnes, Kenny Dalglish, Terry McDermott, Stuart Pearce, David Batty and Gary Speed.

"I was a bit overawed and they probably wondered who this scruffy little kid was."