Gaetan Bong delighted to be back for Brighton and Hove Albion

Brighton and Hove Albion defender Gaetan Bong has spoken of his delight at being back in action with the first team.

The Cameroon international made 24 appearances for the Falmer Stadium outfit in the Championship last term as they secured promotion to the England’s top division.

But the former Wigan defender had been sidelined with a muscle injury which prompted manager Chris Hughton to sign Markus Suttner as a cover in the summer but he says he is ‘happy to be back’.

“It was a long wait for me to come back into the team with my injury and Arsenal was my first game in the Premier League with Brighton,” Bong told club website.

“I don’t think I will have many games as tiring as this one, so it was good to learn from this type of game and move forward.

“I was always with the boys and pushing them. It’s never easy [to be out injured] and since I’ve been at Brighton I’ve had a couple of injuries and you just have to focus on the recovery.

“I was giving everything in training and I’m happy to be back playing and to get 90 minutes. It will be good for me to help the team this year.”

Bong also spoke about the competition with Suttner as well as looking ahead to the visit of Everton on the weekend.

“We are different types of players and everyone knows what I can bring from the two years I have been here - I have given everything on the pitch.

“The manager knows that as well, so it was good for me to have 90 minutes on the pitch to help the team and I’m here when the manager needs me.

“All of the games at home are ones where we have to take three points.

“We did some good things against Arsenal and we made some mistakes, but that’s football. We will focus on the Everton match now and make sure we get the right result.”