Brighton Striker Glenn Murray Delighted With Recovery From Ankle Injury After 'Pain Free' Friendly

Brighton and Hove Albion striker Glenn Murray has expressed his relief that an ankle injury sustained in a pre-season friendly against Swiss side St. Gallen hasn't proved to be a major setback.

Quoted by his club's website - and referring to his injury in the clash with St Gallen, which finished 1-1 - Murray admitted: "That injury put me a week behind the rest of the squad, and I had my first 60 minutes against Charlton in midweek."

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However, on the subject of his most recent appearance in a 1-1 draw with Birmingham City, the 34-year-old added: "The biggest positive for me was I got through 75 minutes pain free and I’m eager to kick on now."

Murray was eager to downplay the extent of the injury sustained against St. Gallen: "What happened at St. Gallen was just unfortunate and was one of those things," he said, adding: "It wasn’t a twist, it was a bit of a heavy challenge and I just tweaked that slightly."

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This news will no doubt be a tremendous relief for Seagulls fans, as Murray struggled with ankle issues last season. However, these difficulties didn't prevent him from finishing as his club's top scorer - he netted an impressive 12 goals in 35 Premier League appearances, thus helping Brighton to survive their first season in the top flight since 1983.

Murray spoke in largely positive terms about the Seagulls' first season in the Premier League, which he described as 'a huge learning curve'. 

"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," he explained, admitting: "We were a bit naïve at points, but we got better at that as the season went on."

Brighton will start their second Premier League campaign against Watford on 11th August.