March: Fan reaction gave me a boost after injury lay-off

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Winger reflects on return to action.

2026-03-02T16:00+00:00

Solly March endured an 11 month injury lay off before returning to action on Sunday. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

One of the loudest cheers at the Amex during the 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest greeted the return to action of Solly March in the 86th minute for his first appearance since April 26 last year, when he started the 3-2 home victory over West Ham United.

The Albion winger revealed afterwards that he had endured some frustrating periods but is now looking forward to contributing during the rest of the season.

“It's good to be back,” he said. “It's been a bit longer than expected maybe, but it's great to be back out there and involved again.

“At the end of last season I played against West Ham and started my first game since coming back from the previous injury and I had to go off again. The week later my knee just was swollen and big.

“I didn't feel any pain, but I just had a lot of damage in the knee that needed fixing really and so that's all done now and hopefully it seems to be in a lot better place.

“There was a lot of strength work and a lot of gym work to get the muscle back and get the quad firing again, which just took a long time really. I just worked through that hard and got to where I am.”

Solly had previously been out for 14 months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in a match away to Manchester City in October 2023. He returned on December 27 2024 last season, making nine further appearances, eight from the bench.

He admitted that working his way back from this latest setback had been challenging. “Maybe mentally more than anything. Just draining, doing the same thing over and over again. But I want to play football so I've got to do that and put in the graft. You've just got to grind away at it and just see the future and see yourself back out on the pitch, that's all you can do.

Solly making his #PL comeback on March 1st! 💙🤍 pic.twitter.com/468Jr6Vv0d
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) March 2, 2026

“I think just taking it step by step and probably listening to my body a bit more, it's in a much better place. I can train without getting any issues. Obviously, I haven't made a full challenge yet in a game, but I've just got to be confident and go into it fully 100 per cent.”

There had been suggestions that he might be eased back into action via the under-21 team, so his appearance among the substitutes against Forest was something of a surprise. “Training is really intense, maybe more intense than some under-21 games, so I think when we train 11-versus-11, it does replicate matches,” he explained.

“I've been doing that for a few weeks now and it's felt good and responded well, so hopefully I can keep going and going and pushing, get more minutes and show the gaffer I'm still capable. I want to contribute to the team.”

And the crowd reaction?

“Yeah, it was a nice feeling obviously. I appreciate that. I've been out a long time and for them to keep treating me so well, it's nice to hear and gave me a boost and a lift.”