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| Tomer Hemed scored twice as Brighton moved to the top of the Championship |
BEING the early Championship front-runners is in stark contrast to last season for Brighton, whose 3-2 victory at Portman Road saw them leapfrog previously unbeaten Ipswich to the top of the table.
Chris Hughton's version of the velvet revolution is already paying dividends for the soaring Seagulls, and this summer's transfer window could turn out to be one of the club's most fruitful periods of business in their history.
Clinching the signature of Feyenoord's Elvis Manu over the weekend took Albion's business to 10 signings and counting, with the possibility of Argentinian Jonathan Calleri arriving from Boca Juniors before the window closes.
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| Mick McCarthy will be hoping Ipswich can go one better this year following play-off heartbreak |
All this means Hughton has far more depth than he did last season when he managed to keep the Seagulls in the division, and it is already beginning to manifest into plenty of goals and points.
Also significant is how the new players have merged seamlessly into the squad. This, believes acrobatic winger Lazenga Lua Lua, is down to Hughton's approach.
"We have a good squad and we will get a few more players in. This squad is better than last year's," said Lua Lua, who scored one and played a part in both of Brighton's other goals in Suffolk.
"It helps that we don't have loan players, they are permanent signings and that makes a difference."
Hughton has not just gone for the relatively unknown foreign imports; Liam Rosenior has valuable experience and the return of Bobby Zamora is popular among current players and fans alike.
Lua Lua added: "Bobby is a big bonus for the team. He is a goalscorer and the fans love him. Things are different to when he was last here but the team is doing well and we hope he can add even more to the team."
Hughton was often criticised at his previous club Norwich for his safety-first approach and was sacked, perhaps prematurely, before they were relegated from the top flight.
The win against Ipswich, with Tomer Hemed, signed for £1million from Almeira, credited with two goals, showed how he wants Brighton to be a positive force and Lua Lua, who scored the opener, is all for it.
The wide man who loves to celebrate with somersaults and tumbles has already bagged four goals this season, one short of his haul from the whole of last year's campaign, said: "It is good, you can see we also had two wingers on the bench so we are an attacking side.
"It is really enjoyable, we are all loving it. We must keep going now.
"This gaffer likes playing 4-4-2 and it helps as a winger knowing there are going to be two in the box."
Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy has also strengthened as they look to go one, or two, steps better than last season when they were overcome by bitter rivals Norwich in the two-legged play-off semi-finals.
While the strikeforce looks more deadly with the addition of Brett Pitman and Ryan Fraser from Bournemouth, and Arsenal loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles, the decision to start with academy teenager Josh Emmanuel in place of the injured Christophe Berra against Brighton proved costly.
Fortunately McCarthy had already moved to bring in Polish centre-half Piotr Malarczyk for the princely sum of £8,500 and his second-half showing looked promising. Coupled with the signing of Denmark full-back Jonas Knudsen, the loss of Tyrone Mings to Bournemouth has hardly been noticed.
Centre-half Tommy Smith, who made his 200th start for Town, insists the Tractor Boys are stronger this year and have the McCarthy spirit, which will see they win more than they lose after Freddie Sears, and a David McGoldrick penalty got the scores back to 2-2 before Hemed's winner for Albion.
"It shows we've got great character to come back again - it's the third or fourth time this season we've come from behind," said New Zealand international Smith.
"It shows we've got the never-say-die attitude you need in this league. You're going to go behind in matches and it's how you react to that. You can't win every game, there's ups and downs in the Championship."
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