As a small and very bad tempered child, I was once given a serious telling-off for throwing my tennis racquet across the net and stomping off court grizzling about things being unfair.

I was told, in no uncertain terms, that nobody liked a bad loser and that perhaps the loss of a couple of weeks pocket money might help reinforce that message.

Reading John Gregory's post-match analysis last week, I came to the conclusion that being gracious in defeat was a virtue yet to make his acquaintance.

Derby County came down to Brighton expecting to go home with three easy points and perhaps it was precisely this complacency that sent them back up the A23 with little more than the half-time refreshments to sustain them. To top off this inglorious retreat, rumour has it that they were accompanied by a determinedly silent manager.

The team made little impression on the game and seemed overwhelmed by the Fortress Withdean factor, perhaps assuming, wrongly, that playing in our beloved nature reserve was surely only a short step up from using their own jumpers for goalposts. Coppell's Super Seagulls soon sent this assumption off for an early bath and it was another gloriously dramatic game for the home fans.

On Derby County's website, Mr Gregory later expressed disappointment in his lads who, apparently, lost to a team who had barely troubled his keeper. This was odd, considering the Seagulls had scored twice including the disallowed offside goal and had put continuous pressure on Derby County's disorganised defence. Given their wage bill, potential all-star cast and their recent relegation from the Premiership, John Gregory had every reason to be disappointed, but for a man who spent the match capering about on the sidelines, he must have taken his eye off the ball very early on.

Add the tantrum that resulted in Malcolm Christie being rightly red-carded and the Derby entourage seems to have caught a bad case of Just Because You're Losing syndrome. A great shame when there's absolutely no dishonour in giving credit to a team that's just handed out one hell of an unexpected beating!

Loser, on the other hand, isn't a description you can apply to Steve Coppell and his performance at the recent Fans Forum showed him to be a man of integrity, wisdom and a very generous portion of wit.

His reference to the legendary Queens Park Rangers duo, Shittu and Doudou, and his identification of a third, appropriately named, player nearly brought the house down.

He's not going to be anybody's Yes man and the club will be all the better for that. Equally, he showed a commitment to Brighton that is already achieving results although he was honest but constructive about the dreadful defeat handed out at Selhurst Park.

He welcomed any help that the new Forty Note Fund might provide and, hopefully, the overall impression he made at the forum might well encourage people to make a contribution.

If the fund raises a decent enough Christmas present for him, I'm confident that the money would be delivered into a very safe pair of hands and that it would be well invested in team strengthening.

I had a very brief conversation with Steve afterwards and almost felt a tinge of guilt for singing His Song so enthusiastically for so many years.

Luckily this thought crime could be dismissed immediately because Steve had already encouraged Albion fans to keep on singing it for old times sake.

Evidence of a man who recognises reality when he sees it, unlike some of his Division One counterparts!

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