EXECUTIVE BRIEF: Seagulls’ cull was the perfect start for us (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

EXECUTIVE BRIEF: Seagulls’ cull was the perfect start for us

2:30pm Friday 17th August 2012 in Football

WE got our season off to what was pretty much a dream start with our win over Brighton in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night.

We always knew that Brighton would provide a tough yardstick for how Paolo Di Canio’s side, which has seen seven new faces, had prepared over the summer.

It wasn’t too long ago that the two sides were old foes in League One and Brighton are a side that you’d expect to see challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

As it turned out, the 5,600 fans who were there at the County Ground saw a fantastic display and a great win.

I think that Sky left very happy because it was an exciting game, a bit of an unexpected result to see us win 3-0, and they also got the chance to see two exciting managers in Paolo and Gus Poyet.

I think that Paolo probably won in the animation stakes but everyone at the club remembers what a great guy Gus is from his short spell with Swindon.

It was a nice way to start and we’ll look forward to the challenge of playing Stoke in the next round but everybody knows how important the first league game at Hartlepool this weekend is.

We’re confident of starting with a win to give ourselves early tempo to the season but Victoria Park isn’t an easy place to go.