It was to be a baptism of fire for our new manager Gus Poyet. And it was his birthday!

Just to set the scene; Saints were unbeaten in eight matches whilst Brighton had won only once in their last ten! Realistically we could have been trounced. The bookies knew and offered very generous odds for a Brighton win. Why wasn't I brave enough to risk a £1 on a 3 – 1 win!

But we went with the hope that our new Uruguayan manager, along with his Argentinian assistant Mauricio Taricco, could turn our season around. The players were the same and he had only three days training with them. Our defence was the third most leaky in League One whilst Saints were scoring for fun. It could have gone horribly wrong.

St Mary's is a fine new stadium: but Falmer will be better! The huge, noisy Brighton contingent packed their segment and swelled the crowd to 22,000. Given that the match was live on TV it was a fantastic turnout. Prominent amongst our supporters were the blue and white flags, the Uruguayan national flag! Poyet must have felt at home.

I have to admit some disbelief as Albion proceeded to cut through the Southampton defence and play their best football of the season. Poyet must have thought this management lark easy? In just 22 minutes we were two up. Before Southampton got in their first shot after 34 minutes we could have had four or five – honestly!

Glenn Murray's first goal was exquisite. Gary Dicker pierced the Saints defence with a ball wide to Dean Cox. His low centre was beautifully guided home by Murray. Five minutes later Nicky Forster's short pass found Murray running through on goal. His early shot was pushed onto the post by the Saints' diving keeper but following up, Murray side-footed into the empty net. It felt like all our birthdays! Shortly after Murray worked his way into the box again and was brought down from behind. Penalty! Referee Kevin Friend wasn't an Albion friend however and waved play on.

Mr Friend did his best to make a game of it by awarding a penalty to the home side just before half-time.
Rickie Lambert gave Michel Kuipers no chance; it was 2 – 1 to us at the break and time to larger the larynx. So what had Poyet done? First he dropped skipper Adam Virgo and brought in James Tunnicliffe. He and Tommy Elphick were excellent at the heart of Albion's defence. Second was bringing back former Dutch Marine Kuipers in goal. His imposing performance was his best for a long time! Third was giving the captain's armband to Andrew Crofts. Fittingly it was his fantastic strike towards the end that finished Southampton and secured the 3 – 1 win. One hopes all Poyet's decisions are so perfect!

You could say we were happy! This was a quality Brighton performance. There may have been a tear in his eye when answering a question about his birthday.

"Listen, the best present of my whole life is this three points, I can tell you."

Happy birthday Gus!