There wasn't much Christmas cheer at Withdean last Friday night.

We let ourselves down by throwing away a two-goal lead and allowed Nicky Law the satisfaction of gloating at us after the match.

There was a bit of handbags outside the dressing room afterwards caused entirely by the actions of the Chesterfield manager. Feelings were running high and I think it's safe to say the two managers didn't get together for an after match drink.

Law had incensed just about everybody inside Withdean with his actions. He upset the gaffer because he was shouting for his own players to physically hurt us in challenges. That sort of thing went out with the dinosaurs. It should be a very interesting visit to Saltergate next month.

We felt a few important decisions went against us on the night, particularly the sending off. Dodge is now known as "Supersub" for the remarkable impact he had on the match during his 11 minutes on the field. Our very own David Fairclough.

While we were very upset to have thrown away two vital points there was no feeling sorry for ourselves.

We were all given the perfect pick-me-up at training on Monday morning as the youth team performed their Christmas pantomime.

It is their yearly opportunity to give the professional players a taste of their own mickey-taking medicine and the panto was superb. They portrayed Wicksy as a pretty boy, skirt-wearing centre-half and Peth as a tramp that lived in a cardboard box!

They even had the cheek to portray me as a lazy, paper reading old man who is always complaining to the gaffer for a day off! I don't know where they got that from.

The young lads went straight for the jugular and gave the gaffer and Bob a bit of stick too.

The only lads they didn't slaughter were the O'Driscoll brothers for a fear of reprisals! The gaffer thought the play was so good he is threatening to get the lads to do it on the pitch at Withdean before a home match.

Talking of pantomimes, I have to reveal that the former Dutch SAS chef is not really injured. Instead he is moonlighting at the Theatre Royal, Brighton under the alias of Derek Griffiths, in the New Adventures of Peter Pan. If you don't believe me look at his picture in the match programme for the Rushden game.

On Boxing Day we had to fight hard to win a point at QPR where the big shock was that Bobby Z didn't score! We all enjoyed the lovely stadium, big crowd, good atmosphere and flat pitch. Chances were hard to come by and neither side did enough to win. Both Cardiff and Stoke were turned over at Loftus Road so I considered it a point gained.

Webby made an impressive debut and put himself about. He has enjoyed a good start to his Brighton career. On his first six days at the club he was invited out to four parties and has already burst into the first team.

Our other excellent debutant was Simon "Rolls" Royce. That nickname was too difficult for Virgs. He couldn't understand why we were calling him Rolls. He kept saying Rolls under his breath before asking how we spelt it. You should have seen the look of excitement on his face when it finally dawned on him.

Charlie really enjoyed his return back home. He was played slightly out of position on the right side of midfield to stop the influence of their flying winger Doudou. Charlie not only saw off his threat so well that Doudou went to play on the other wing but he also threw in a few tricks of his own. We're now calling him the "White Doudou".

Finally, on behalf of all the lads I would like to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year. 2001 was a great year for Brighton, let's do all we can to make 2002 even better.