Brighton & Hove Albion striker Glenn Murray was pleased to consign a minor injury setback to the past in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham City.
Murray featured for 76 minutes in the West Midlands and feels as though he’s catching up with the rest of the squad after being forced off in the 1-1 draw with St Gallen.
He said, “That injury put me a week behind the rest of the squad, and I had my first 60 minutes against Charlton in midweek.
“The biggest positive for me was I got through 75 minutes pain free and I’m eager to kick on now.
“If you injure your ankle in the middle of the season, you want to get back as quickly as possible. I may have come back too early, but I got through the rest of the season and worked hard in the summer to strengthen it.
“What happened at St Gallen was just unfortunate and was one of those things. It wasn’t a twist, it was a bit of a heavy challenge and I just tweaked that slightly.”
The Seagulls frontman also reflected on the game as a whole against the Blues, with Hughton’s men gearing up for the season opener against Watford 11th August.
“It was a little bit slow in stages, they dropped off and let us have the ball. It was a typical pre-season game. We’ve worked hard on our stamina and now it’s about getting match sharpness.
“They’re a week ahead of us sharpness wise and that showed at times, but overall I thought a draw was a fair result.”
Murray also looked ahead to the club’s second season in the Premier League, and feels their added experience as a squad will be vital.
“When you step up to the Premier League, as we did, where the majority of players hadn’t played in it before, you don’t know what to expect.
“I’ve had a taste of it now and we were getting used to the situation in the first four or five games last year.
“We were a bit naïve at points, but we got better at that as the season went on. We learnt the tricks of the trade and what Premier League clubs do to slow the game down if they’re winning. It was a huge learning curve and we’re going in with our eyes open.”