Remember the last time that we lost 1 - 0 at Portman Road? It was, I remember, a sunny, warm day on August 23rd. Those unpleasant lot from up the road came bustling their way down - their forums spoke in eager anticipation of another thumping that they were going to deliver on us. Fortunately, that didn't occur. But we lost. Again.

I can recall walking out of Portman Road after that game. After a cheery home win on the opening day things seemed to be taking a turn for the worst. It remained Town's solitary win, we had lost at Reading and had been unceremoniously dumped out of the Capital One Cup by the mighty Red Devils. No, not Manchester United. Crawley Town, folks.

After the game against those horrid lot I wrote a blog on this very website proclaiming that the defeat was actually a good thing, a positive thing that would act as the ignition to our season. Some people called me crazy. Others simply stated that I was "covering up the cracks".

Well, we certainly seem to be doing alright now, don't we? The point of this article is not for personal, self-proclaimed glory however. No, instead I'm aiming to offer an insight into today's rather dreary home defeat to Derby.

Firstly, I think it's important to emphasise that actually there is no need for a kick up the arse and quick improvement of results. Rather, I think today's result will just act as a reminder to our lads that actually this league will not be simple to get out of.

Far from it, in the league table, Town have dropped to third. Albeit, a mere point off the leading pack of our now nemesis Derby County and Bournemouth, who are useless and lost at home to Norwich. Oh, wait a minute.

The defeat today is nothing more than a blip. I say that with profound confidence that borders on arrogance. The reason being that Town have showed consistency that we have not seen as a club for a very long time. Moreover, after our disappointing result at Cardiff we followed it up with a 12-game unbeaten run that today came to a miserable end.

Yet, let's look at it from this perspective. Derby are, in my opinion and a lot of my other football expert friends, the favourites to win the Championship. They have a good manager and a very multi-talented squad. They are also hard to beat. A very good combination and one which should see them get promoted. However, they beat us 1-0, thanks to a defensive mistake from the otherwise superb Tommy Smith and played us when we were not even close to our best.

For me this is a clear positive. A team does not display their best performances every game and sometimes this can lead onto defeats, just as it did today. My point is, we were playing arguably the best team in the league, they had two fortunate decisions go their way (any guesses what they were!?) and we were pretty dreadful and they still could only beat us by a mistake.

The signs of a good team? Maybe. But I think what is more clear is the progression that this team has undergone, and still is undergoing, since the Norwich game. If we play anything like we did in the game against Middlesbrough or Brentford those Budgies won't know what's hit them when we play the on March 1st. Some of the displays from Town have been devastatingly brilliant, ripping good football teams apart and making them look as good as Delia's cooking.

The point is simple. A disappointing day does not make a season. I for one am proud of our boys and thoroughly believe that we will make up for the poor display with a better one against Southampton. Well, if that doesn't work out, then damn, we get to batter Millwall. What more could you want, eh?

Give us a follow - https://twitter.com/Puffman180 - and a big thumbs up to the Town fans for their positive reactions to the defeat today and towards the players. Good to see, that.

SouperJim added 10:38 - Jan 11 I don't think we were poor yesterday, you have to give Derby credit for being very tough to play against. I think a draw would have been a fairer result, but if I was going to criticise our performance it would be that we didn't play smart enough. We needed to take them on more near the corner flag and win more corners (from which we had Derby seriously threatened). Too many times we tried to play our triangles and work the ball back inside, Derby defended it just about every time. Anyway, consistency of performances is the important thing here. We have arguably had more of that than Derby, to date. At 12pm yesterday I thought Derby were a better side than us and I still think it now. But all that matters is who picks up more points between now and the end of the season. I wouldn't bet against us.

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StowTractorBoy added 21:40 - Jan 11 Admire your optimism but the wonderful thing about football is you never know. I would love more than anything in the world to stuff those budgies at Carrot Road but past performances mean nothing. I will also add just look at the history for our record at Millwall. It does not make good reading and our worst away display of the season last season was you guessed it at Millwall. It is not a happy hunting ground for us. As I say admire your optimism and liked the article.

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