What is it about New Year's Eve that makes usually halfway sensible people pick up a karaoke microphone in order to murder some of the greatest songs ever written?

You can't blame everything on the demon drink especially if you're sober enough to remember every humiliating moment of your enthusiastic, if excruciating, performance.

Unfortunately, everyone present also remembers and will take great pleasure in revisiting the event in the most precise of details the next morning.

So, among other reasons, I was particularly looking forward to a New Year's afternoon at Withdean because of the diversionary opportunities offered by a good head-clearing dose of fresh air and football. A healthy combination which would finally lay the ghosts of the night before - if I hadn't underestimated Steve Coppell's ability as a rain-maker based on his desire to have a "muddy encounter" with Wimbledon.

While understanding the advantage this might have given our lads, overnight rain certainly saw his wish come true. Unfortunately it brought so much mud with it that any sort of encounter with Wimbledon was impossible and the match was postponed.

Not that this will have inconvenienced the away fans very much since only about 25 of them turn up to watch Franchise FC, nowadays!

Luckily the memories of last week's rollercoaster of a game against Burnley are still fresh and worth revisiting. Steve Sidwell's superb two-goal attack on a team who were confident that they had bagged a win was an unexpectedly brilliant end to what, up to then, had been a deeply depressing afternoon in the Brighton stands.

And as well as the point snatched from Burnley, the last-minute equaliser might be something of a salutary lesson to all those people who can't cope with a whole 90 minutes of football.

The regulars who sneak out ten minutes before the final whistle at every game missed something very special. I'm sure there are people who have perfectly valid reasons for leaving early and, before I'm accused of massive hypocrisy here, I hold up my hands to leaving the first ever Fans United game at the Goldstone at half time.

I've paid a very heavy price for this over the years, not only because I missed a cracking second half and a legendary game, but also because nobody has ever let me forget this transgression. The only excuse I can offer is that a friend, whose knowledge of football wouldn't cover the back of a postage stamp, had organised something I couldn't duck out of.

Now we've all been put in this situation but not every Saturday, surely? Even wanting to get to the front of the Park and Ride queue is a huge gamble if it means missing what can be the vital last minutes of a game. And there's absolutely no acceptable excuse for leaving your seat early in order to stand behind Steve Coppell and shout abuse at him, something he was quite justified to complain about.

Everyone disagrees with the Gaffer's decisions from time to time and if I'd been sitting in the dugout rather than the South Stand for the Burnley game, I might have put Paul Brooker on earlier.

From the moment he came on, Brooker positively set the pitch on fire and there's no doubt he was the catalyst for Sidwell's goals since he provided the pace and motivation that made the fightback possible.

Let's hope Coppell can keep the new Ginger Prince for the rest of the season and that rumours of Stoke City bidding for him from Arsenal are unfounded.

Both Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday won their New Year's Day games and their victories have put us an uncomfortable two clear points adrift at the bottom.

So any sort of "getting behind" Coppell has to mean supporting him and the team. Unlike the idiot who got the Gaffer's goat last week.