On Days Like These...: Birthday Blues

The Wildings at the Kesgrave Park Run

Sam was back home from Vietnam and following the mornings Kesgrave Park Run (which he took part in alongside Max & I) was in attendance at both the K Bar and Degeros for pre-match drinks, it was Max's birthday, as if he needed an excuse!

Saturday afternoon's weather was perfect for football, although not quite as hot as it has been, it'll probably be the last time I'll be wearing shorts to a game this side of Easter, as Autumn is just around the corner!

The home match versus Brighton didn't go according to my script, it was first v second and the chance for Town to put some breathing space between themselves and the other 23 teams in the Championship. I had us down for a three-nil win!

In hindsight Albion couldn't have picked a better time to play us, It was Ainsley Maitland-Niles' eighteenth birthday, (sharing the day with Max, who is six years his senior, that's frightening!) and his mind didn't seem to be on the game. Christophe Berra was out with a hamstring injury and keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, whose father had recently died, was left on the bench.

Town were two-nil down with just twelve minutes of the match gone, Kazenga LuaLua and Tom Hemed scoring the goals and we 'looked all over the place'. Half-time couldn't come sooner enough!

Mick McCarthy changed things after the interval, replacing Josh Emmanuel with new signing Piotr Malarczyk (who had only been at the club since Friday) and David McGoldrick came on for the birthday boy Maitland-Niles.

Freddie Sears got us back into the game with a close range effort and McGoldrick levelled the match in the sixty-fifth minute when he scored from the penalty spot. Brighton to their credit re-took the lead within two minutes, Hemed scoring his second goal of the afternoon. As much as Town looked to get back on level terms, it wasn't to be, which means that the Seagulls go in to the international break top of the table.

Following the final whistle, on what was a disappointing afternoon, we went for a quick beer back at Degeros before sauntering off home.