Having had to miss the away game against Portsmouth because of a wedding in, of all places, Portsmouth, I've been looking forward to the home game.

Because of the 12 noon kick-off, it promises a good long period of "post-match analysis" with other South Stand comrades.

As things stand, however, this could be a fairly gloomy affair because it's not been the best of weeks - something that even the most eternal of optimists would have to admit.

This iffy week kicked off with news of Reading's approach for Steve Sidwell which was followed by the inevitable gossip and rumour about whether this was a done deal or whether the Albion would make a successful counter offer.

By Tuesday afternoon, Reading claimed to have clinched the deal with a statement to that effect on their website.

So things had already taken a downturn before Norwich finally got their act together to knock the Seagulls out of the FA Cup. Not such a tragedy in itself, because it's easy to dismiss further progress in the cup as irrelevant given the need to concentrate on staying up.

Had we not lost Michel Kuipers to injury in the process, that is, which was a far bigger blow than losing the opportunity for a meeting with Dagenham & Redbridge in the next round.

In a perverse way, Kuipers is more important than Sidwell at the moment because no matter how many goals the undeniably talented new Ginger Prince can put into the opposition's net, we'll only get the points with a keeper capable of withstanding a counter-attack.

As that old ham Bruce Forsyth was so fond of saying: "Points Win Prizes." Goals, on the other hand, are absolutely no guarantee of points and Steve Coppell is faced with the challenge of conjuring up an affordable and available substitute keeper.

Those fans partial to the gossip and rumour which are essential elements on the internet message boards have had to conjure up a new venue in the temporary absence of the grand-daddy of all the Albion forums, North Stand Chat.

And while conscious of the need to avoid catching "My Tiny Little Life Syndrome" (always an occupational hazard of spending too much time plugged into a computer) there's been some modest amusement gained by watching what can only be described as "Board Wars" build up over the last week or so.

These territorial squabbles over invisible territory came about with the emergence of a "new and improved" message board which vigorously campaigned for supremacy, tempting potential users with many nerdy bells and whistles and a world-wide web full of little flashing smiley face thingys all aimed at "livening up" messages.

As is often the way when hard selling enters into the dialogue, a number of people were obstinately unmoved and, despite accusations of ingratitude, remained determined to choose North Stand Chat over any substitute.

Not only were they bored of the Wars, so to speak, but they had their fill of hot air this week as contradictory rumours flew on the different websites.

Talking of hot air, I couldn't let this week go by without a reference to some spouted at Lewes District Council's meeting on Wednesday.

Having tabled notice of my intention to ask two questions about their opposition to the Falmer Stadium proposals, I watched with amazement as they blustered and bumbled through the process.

Having had to ask one question of the same councillor twice before she could provide a barely adequate answer, I was even more amazed to discover that Lewes District Council do not consider that the community benefits the Albion can bring to Lewes depend upon the stadium being at Falmer.

So, based on their Council's statement, residents of Lewes District might be advised to start looking elsewhere for any benefits from a new stadium. Why not try Hull or Reading for starters?

Roz South edits Brighton Rockz fanzine. Email roz@southspark.co.uk