He may have a soft spot for Ipswich Town, but David Stockdale returns to Portman Road tonight insisting Brighton & Hove Albion will be no soft touches.

The 28-year-old keeper – who played 18 times for the Blues in 2011 – moved from Fulham to The Amex Stadium this summer.

He loved his brief time in Suffolk, but all sentiment will be put to one side this evening as Sami Hyypia’s side aim to get their season up and running.

“I really enjoyed my time at Ipswich,” said Stockdale. “The fans, like here, welcomed me in and I actually thrived there for a little bit.

“I had some good times. I lived there with my family and enjoyed it, so I always keep an eye out on them.”

Brighton are very much a club in transition at present. Thrashed by Derby in the Play-Off semi-finals back in May, the south coast outfit saw several key men depart and Hyypia replace Oscar Garcia as manager.

Stockdale is one of eight new arrivals attempting to gel, with Brighton having won just one of their opening six league games.

Having lost 3-2 at newly-promoted Brentford on Saturday, Stockdale admitted: “It was a bit dismal from all of us.

“We know what we have got to do. The only positives we can take out of it are good character again, trying to come back.

“It’s a long season and we are going to lose games. We can’t dwell on these things. We have to look at the bigger picture and that’s promotion.

“I’m sure we’ll keep fighting towards that and if we reach the standards that we are used to then I don’t think we will be too far away.”

Town boss Mick McCarthy, whose side go into the game off the back of a morale-boosting 1-1 draw at Derby and 2-0 home win over Millwall, said: “It’s been a mixed bag from Brighton so far. They’re still trying to play the brand of football they want to play.

“They’ve had a fair change in personnel and are a bit transitional, but they’ve still got threats all over the pitch and good players.”