Ipswich v Brighton: It might not have been the way he wanted to depart Portman Road.

A 3-0 home defeat to Brighton saw Town’s cracking Christmas period end with a whimper – with the match also being the last of DJ Campbell’s prolific three-month loan period.

But Campbell, who will now return to parent club QPR, believes a run of seven points from four quick-fire matches is an impressive tally, one that has seen Ipswich start to move away from the bottom three.

The striker said: “It has been a great few games, Charlton and Wolves away, but we are obviously disappointed with the result today.

“As the gaffer said in there, seven points is superb. We would have taken that at the start. When the gaffer came in, we only had (a total) of seven points, now we have 30. It has not been a bad run!

“When you look at it like that, I’m happy. You can’t be greedy. Sometimes you have to realise where we were and where we are now – although we are still in a dogfight.”

Two first-half goals from Dean Hammond and Craig Mackail-Smith put Brighton in control before Wayne Bridge sealed the points with a third midway through the second half.

Summing up the game, Campbell said: “I’m just disappointed for the fans today that we couldn’t see the New Year with a win.

“I’m not sure if it was one game too many. But Brighton are the kind of team you play against where you need to score first. If you don’t, they will sit back and suck up everything – they keep the ball well.

“We made it hard for ourselves but we have had a great festive period.”

- See tomorrow’s EADT and Ipswich Star for Campbell on his QPR future, his thoughts on signing permanently for Ipswich and his special message to the Super Blues