IT’S time once again to press the resume button on our Championship season after yet another pause for an international break.

And in terms of hard teams to beat, Brighton and Hove Albion, the visitors this coming Sunday afternoon, will be a tough ask.

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Taking full advantage of the weekend break, a party of us headed to Chester Racecourse dressed in full jockey silks to fully embrace the event.

My outfit was claret and blue checks of course, confirmation of which can be viewed on their website. However, we weren’t attending a race meeting, but a real ale festival, and the bloke on the CAMRA desk also just happened to be a Burnley season ticket holder.

The analogy we made was that the season too is a race, where the winner makes the least mistakes over the full distance. So far, the south coast team could lay claim to that title.

Yet, although the Seagulls do not have a defeat under their loss column, they are still not outright leaders as seven draws have been recorded amongst their 16 league fixtures so far.

Like ourselves they certainly know how to grind out a result.

Yet we go into the game in good heart with a very productive October and November up to press, also unbeaten in that time.

It will already be our sixth appearance in front of a live TV audience this term and with three draws and two wins, the Clarets will want to keep that run going.

Besides the 2-1 reverse to Reading when all the damage was done within the first 10 minutes, our home advantage has reaped us rewards so far, not least the goals contribution from Andre Gray.

It’s hard to envisage that sequence extending against a very well-drilled Brighton side, but who would rule it out completely given his obvious liking for home comforts?

If Burnley do happen to accomplish the formidable task of beating the flying Seagulls, make no mistake, the result would send out a bold statement of intent to the watching public.

That is why, to an extent, I am glad that their record has remained intact until we play them as it is a rare opportunity for us to attempt to claim a massive scalp.