Richie Towell made his return to action for Brighton this week. At the weekend, he played 45 minutes for the reserves in a game which was abandoned due to an injury to a serious injury to a Leicester player.
On Tuesday night, in the EFL trophy against Leyton Orient, he again played 45 minutes - this time scoring his first goal for the club.
It was just his third appearance for Brighton. The previous one was in the playoff semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday in May.
It would be easy to feel pessimistic regarding Towell's time at Brighton. There are mitigating circumstances for him having played so few games.
The 25-year-old told Brighton's club website about the injury, picked up during the summer, which kept him out of playing and training for a lengthy period.
I basically had a hole in the back of my knee; the cartilage was gone and the bones were grinding. I had a cyst on the back of it and there was quite a lot of fluid to be drained.
Playing back-to-back seasons probably caused that. In the summer I probably did a little too much and hammered myself.
It feels fine now and I’ve been back training for just over two weeks; the medical staff have looked after me very well.
Towell says he'd like to play more games for the club's U23 side - that's the team which competes in the EFL Trophy (formally the Johnstone Paint Trophy, now called the Checkatrade Trophy.)
There’s so much competition for places. I’d like to play a few more games for Rusky’s team [under-23s], because he’s been great to me and hopefully he’ll allow me to play a little more.
Anybody that knows me knows I’m a very competitive person who wears my heart on my sleeve, so I’d play at the drop of a hat.
The medical staff have held me back a small bit, but I’m raring to go and once given an opportunity, I’m confident I’ll take it.
Towell getting just 45 minutes against Leyton Orient was preplanned. The club does not want to undo the graft which has returned the Dubliner to fitness.
It was great and I really enjoyed it, but I would have liked to play for a little bit longer.
I asked Rusky [Simon Rusk] at half-time if I could stay on, but they were under strict instructions to take me off after 45 minutes.
I need to come back slowly, but it was great to be out there playing in a competitive environment again.
To get through 45 minutes with no problems and score a goal, it was obviously a nice feeling.
