Rosenior's Captaincy Pride

Brighton & Hove Albion defender Liam Rosenior expressed his pride at captaining the side to a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the Emirates FA Cup fourth round, and is eager to play his part in the final stretch of the season.

Rosenior played his first game for the Seagulls since September, and explained his determination to help the team whichever way possible in their quest for Premier League survival.

He said, "I feel proud to be named captain. It’s a fantastic club and it’s been one of the hardest times of my career.

“I’ve never been out of a team for so long. I understand the situation and all I can do is perform to the best of my ability. I believe I am more than good enough at Premier League level and it’s just about getting a chance to show it.

“Regardless of if I am playing or not, I want to help the team get over the line this season. We’ve just got to concentrate on the performance and not worry about the result. We need to just play well, concentrate on the basics, and we’re more than good enough to beat anyone.

“You saw our performance away at Man United, we need to concentrate on our performances and the results will come.”

The experienced full-back also paid tribute to goalscorer Glenn Murray, and is hoping that new club-record signing Jurgen Locadia can quickly hit the ground running once he returns from injury.

“He has an art of being in the right place at the right time and Glenn is a really strong lad mentally. We’ve wanted to support him through what he’s gone through this week and the thing with Glenn is he’s a great professional.

“As soon as he’s on the pitch or training he’s a fantastic character to have in the changing room.

“I’ve only seen him [Jurgen] running and he’s quick. He seems like a lovely guy and character is a massive thing in the dressing room. It will help having Tim [Krul] and Davy [Propper], two Dutch players with Davy having played with him at PSV. Hopefully he can settle in when he’s fully fit and help us do what we want to achieve.”

Rosenior also praised the performances of the players that came into the side and highlighted the benefits of having a good cup run, but insists that the number one priority remains securing top-flight survival.

“When you make a lot of changes, with players that haven’t played for a very long time, you need to feel your way into the game.

“It was quite cagey in the first half with the number of changes that we’ve made and in the second half we showed our character and spirit, and that’s what is going to keep us up this season.

“Hopefully it will give us a good run in the FA Cup, but the most important thing is to stay in this league and to do that, you need all 25 players at in training day in day out pushing the first 11 and we’ve got that here.”