Town Go to Brighton Looking to Equal Record Tuesday, 29th Dec 2015 06:00 Town face Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium this evening looking to equal a club record of five successive away wins. Between October and December 1976 Sir Bobby Robson’s Blues beat Bristol City 2-1, West Ham 2-0, Manchester United 1-0, Middlesbrough 2—0 and Birmingham 4-2 in the old First Division. Since thrashing Rotherham 5-2 at the New York Stadium, Mick McCarthy’s side has won 3-0 at Charlton, 1-0 away against the MK Dons and beaten Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage, their first run of four away league wins since March and April 2004. Town have won 20 of their 37 points this season away from Portman Road but improved their less impressive home form on Saturday by beating QPR 2-1, only their second victory in 10 matches on Suffolk soil. While he admitted that the Blues weren’t at the top of their game against the West Londoners, manager Mick McCarthy believes that the result will give his sixth-placed side confidence going into two tough away matches with tonight’s game against the Seagulls, who are fourth, followed by a trip to fifth-placed Burnley on Saturday. “Had we lost or drawn we’d be going down to Brighton feeling not quite as good about ourselves as we are because we’ve won,” the Town boss said. “It’s about football results, not about how we played and who played well, who played badly, who did this - we’ve won. “That’s down on record, all the reports will be fish and chip paper at some stage. We’re in the top six, it just has a really good effect on you, mentally, emotionally.” Having finished 20th last season, Brighton have been something of a surprise package this season, only falling to their first Championship defeat of the season 10 days ago when they lost 3-0 to leaders Middlesbrough in their last home game. “I don’t think they were a bad squad of players even last year,” McCarthy added. “They’ve changed their manager, Chris [Hughton] has that very stabilising effect on a club, on a team, and gets the best out of people. “He’s a great lad, Chrissie, I played with him for years [with the Republic of Ireland] and he just creates a really hard team to play against and to beat, and an attractive team as well. They’ve been great, to have only lost only once at this stage is amazing.” McCarthy says none of the Blues’ longer term absentees will be ready to return with David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop still sidelined with their hamstring problems and Larsen Touré with his groin injury. “Giles Coke opened his knee up the other day, but I think he’ll be all right, but none of the others,” he added. The Town boss will have to decide whether to stick with the same XI for a seventh successive match - for the first time since November 2013 - or shuffle his pack. Dean Gerken seems certain to start in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Jonas Knudsen on the left and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the centre of the defence. In midfield, Cole Skuse and Jonathan Douglas are again likely to be in the middle, but McCarthy may be considering making changes out wide. Ryan Fraser may be ready to make his first start after his knee injury after two substitute appearances and could come in for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who may drop to the bench. That could see Freddie Sears move to the right - where Kevin Bru and Tommy Oar, who impressed from the bench on Saturday, are also options - or alternatively the former Colchester man could join Daryl Murphy up front with Brett Pitman perhaps dropping to the bench. Brighton, who followed that first defeat of the season against Boro with a 0-0 Boxing Day draw at Brentford, have significant injury problems at present. Centre-half and skipper Gordon Greer faces a fitness test having been forced off with a hamstring injury at Griffin Park. Fellow defender Uwe Hünemeier is also a big concern with a groin strain which saw him miss the game against the Bees. Former Town loanee Liam Rosenior (knee) and Gaetan Bong (thigh) are out long-term, along with Solly March (knee), while the game will come too quickly for striker Sam Baldock and winger Kazenga LuaLua, who are back in training but not expected to be involved against the Blues. Seagulls boss Hughton says he knows what to expect from the Blues. “They’re a very good side, but we’re at home on the back of a clean sheet and we’ve got to build on that," he told the official Albion site. “For most of us that know Mick and his team, it was just a matter of time before they moved up the table. “We played very well at their place earlier in the season and arguably it was a good time to go there because they hadn’t got into their rhythm yet. “They have a way of playing, they do it very well with a lot of good individuals in the team, and they are a team that can score plenty of goals." Historically, Town have the upper hand, having won 30 of the games (27 in the league) between the sides, Brighton 24 (22) and with 13 (12) ending in draws. The Blues, who will remain sixth whatever this evening's scoreline, have scored twice in each of their last five games against the Seagulls, winning three but losing the last two. Albion are without a win in their last four games, drawing three in addition to that one Championship defeat to Middlesbrough. At the end of August, Brighton, who had started the day second, leapt above then-top Town to head the Championship table after winning 3-2 at Portman Road. Two goals in two minutes from Kazenga LuaLua and Tomer Hemed gave the Seagulls a deserved 2-0 half-time lead before the Blues hit back via Freddie Sears and sub David McGoldrick’s penalty, but Hemed won it with his second of the afternoon. The teams last met at the Amex Stadium in January when Town missed out on the chance to claim the Championship’s top spot as they were again beaten 3-2. Sam Baldock put the Seagulls in front in the 18th minute, Daryl Murphy struck back four minutes later with his 18th of the season, but Joao Teixeira struck on 38 and in first-half injury time to make it 3-1 at the break. Sears pulled one back with his first Town goal with 12 minutes of the game remaining. Brighton keeper David Stockdale spent the first half of 2011/12 on loan with the Blues making 18 appearances. Full-back Rosenior was with the Blues on loan for most of the 2009/10 campaign making 28 starts and three sub appearances, scoring once. Striker Daniel Akindayini, who joined the Seagulls following his release by Spurs in the summer and is yet to make his Brighton debut, spent time on trial with Town last season, featuring for the U21s in a 3-2 defeat to Bristol City at Playford Road in April. Albion midfielder Jake Forster-Caskey is the stepson of ex-Blues and Seagulls striker Nicky Forster, while Town assistant boss Terry Connor was a player with Brighton between 1983 and 1987. Tonight's referee is Stuart Attwell from Warwickshire, who has shown 68 yellow cards and three red cards in 23 games so far this season. Attwell’s most recent Town match was the 1-1 draw at Wolves in April in which he booked Jay Tabb and Jonny Parr and one home player. Prior to that, he was in charge of the 2-1 home victory over Sheffield Wednesday in February in which he booked only one of the visitors. Attwell was also the referee during McCarthy’s first game as Town manager, the 1-0 win at Birmingham in November 2012. Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Skuse, Douglas, Hyam, Coke, Tabb, Bru, Maitland-Niles, Fraser, Oar, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, Varney.
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