Let’s not get too  carried away folks. Last time we won 2-1 on the opening day away from home, we ended up needing to win the last match of the season to stay in the league. But let’s also be honest, there’s a lot of positives to be taken from this, an excellent win without new captain Greer (chant of the day: “Where’s your captain gone?”) or main goal threat Glenn Murray.

It was a standard away day out really – highlights included a Millwall supporter locked in the train bog at Paddington for a good twenty minutes, as well as greeted by the inevitable cry of “town full of faggots” within seconds of entering the Swindon ‘Spoons. Ironically, the game clashed with Pride, so perhaps for once there was an element of truth to this. Anyway, it was clear the football season was back.

After navigating the magic roundabout, we took to the stand to watch a new-look Albion team fielding Jamie Smith for only his second start for  the club, alongside new signings Sparrow and Kishishev in midfield, Ankergren in goal, as well as the not-so-new signings Barnes, Calderon and Painter. They were of course backed by a brilliant away turnout of nearly 1500 supporters – but I suppose that goes without saying really.

A quick review of the “new” boys:

Smith looked lively and played all over midfield at some point – creating two of our goals. Not a bad return really for a man who a couple of weeks ago most people had forgotten about!

Calderon took the armband and looked strong at times, although perhaps not at full fitness yet.

Barnes was chasing everything on his own up top with little support.

Kishishev added a bit more strength alongside Navarro in a sort of defensive midfield role and spread the play around nicely

Painter, in our opinion anyway, looked like a Championship full-back. Solid for 90 minutes, getting forward effectively as well to support Smith and Bennett, who kept switching wings.

Ankergren had a funny game – not sending him off near the end was the right decision, but on another day could easily have gone against us. He looked composed though, and perhaps more confident in the closing stages as we fought off the Swindon onslaught during 5 minutes of added play that the ref invented.

The ref had a bit of a shocker actually – some bizarre decisions for both sides. Elphick could have given away a penalty in the first half; it looked as though he dragged down the Swindon forward in the box.

Anyway, to the last of the new boys. And what hasn’t been said about him already? Matt Sparrow. CLASS ACT. The day after ex -skipper Crofts scored on his Norwich debut, his replacement Sparrow went one better, scoring two quality goals. The first was a rocket, the second was a smart finish after a sublime counter attack. More games like this, and we’ll have a hell of a player to watch this season.

As said earlier, we’re not getting carried away. At times we looked good on the ball, at others we failed to threaten, and the goal conceded was traditionally bad Brighton defending really – we failed to clear our lines when we had a chance to. Still, what a great result – let’s hope we can keep it up at Withdean next weekend, and tomorrow night as well at Sixfields in the league cup (not that we’re too bothered about this one to be honest!) No, we can’t wait for the main event next weekend either; not the parading of a new million pound centre forward, but the return of the bacon baguettes!