Blues boss Paul Jewell says he’s not getting carried away by Town’s recent upturn in form which has seen his side take 10 points from the last 12. The Liverpudlian now faces an anxious fortnight while several of his players are away on international duty.
Jewell, whose team are up to 10th, a point from the play-off places, said: "We’ve made a turn for the better, we’ve got to say that. But we’re 10 games into the season and we’ve got three quarters of the season left and I would prefer to say that it’s a work in progress. I can say that when we’ve lost 7-1, so I can say that when we win 3-1.”
The former Wigan and Bradford manager says while the victory over Brighton is a good way to go into the break, he’d prefer the fixtures to keep coming: "It’s an ideal result if you’ve got two weeks without a game. You'd probably want a game on Tuesday, but we haven’t got one, so we’ll take a breather.
"Now it’s a nightmare because we’ve got so many players away and we don’t know whether there’ll come back tired or injured. But every manager’s got the same problem.”
Keeper David Stockdale (England), defenders Danny Collins (Wales [subsequently withdrawn]) and Damien Delaney (Republic of Ireland) and midfielder Keith Andrews (Republic of Ireland) are those from the current matchday 16 who will be with their international squads, while Tamás Priskin will be with Hungary and youngsters Josh Carson and Cormac Burke will be with the Northern Irish U19s.
In addition to the praise heaped on two-goal striker Michael Chopra, Jewell was also impressed with Collins at the heart of the defence: "I thought he was terrific, I don’t think he lost a header all day.
"He just gives us that composure and that balance at the back. Him and Sonko seem to have formed a decent partnership.”
Right-back Carlos Edwards put in another tireless display with Manchester City youngster Reece Wabara having come in at the end of last week to compete for his place in the side: "Carlos is a fit lad, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve brought Reece in for a while to push him.
"Certainly against Brighton, Carlos had lots of the ball, in the first half especially, but even in the second half he was still galloping forward and I thought he was terrific. I thought it was a good game, to be honest.”
On what was an excellent day for Town, even the subs impressed with Jewell pleased to see Nathan Ellington putting in his best display for the Blues when he came on: "He’s looked sharp in training.
"He got a hat-trick in the reserves about three weeks ago and his confidence has come on a ton. He held the ball up, he’s decent in the air and he’s getting better like everyone else, but we’re keeping our feet on the floor, there’s a long way to go.”
Striker Chopra says he ran to celebrate with Jewell after scoring his second goal because the Blues manager stuck with him during his recent barren run: "I went to him because he has shown a lot of faith in me.
"He brought me to the club to score goals and I’ve not been doing that in the past few weeks, but he kept picking me and showing faith and I feel I have repaid him a little.”
The former Cardiff man says the goal celebrations were in danger of embarrassing him: "Keith Andrews was trying to pull my shorts down and I was keeping tight hold of them.
"Then the lads grabbed my legs and things, but that is part and parcel of this football club. We have a lot of great lads with great banter.”
Meanwhile, Brighton boss Gus Poyet praised his assistant manager and former Blue Mauricio Taricco in the wake of the Argentinian’s decision to hang up his boots.
The Uruguayan says the 38-year-old, who has struggled to play a full 90 minutes lately, is better than anyone else in his squad at Brighton: "Without any doubt he’s the best player by far. You don’t only look at what players do with the ball or without the ball, it’s about the whole package, how you understand the game, how much you affect the game.
"The other day [against Crystal Palace] he was outstanding, he was the best player on the pitch for 55 minutes. Then the cramps came and we had to make a change. Now with only five subs on the bench it’s a problem.”
Poyet says the Seagulls players have tried to persuade Taricco to keep going, although not all of them: "The central defenders and the goalkeepers were especially asking why he is retiring, they were trying to convince him to keep going. Not the full-backs, they want him out!”