Allan Saint-Maximin was delighted to be back in action for Newcastle United on Saturday – but said he was disappointed he couldn’t mark his return by helping his side a win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Seagulls earned a point with a 0-0 draw at St. James’ Park, in a game that the visitors dominated for long spells.
French winger Saint-Maximin – who suffered a recurrence of a hamstring problem in the victory over Tottenham Hotspur last month – appeared as a second-half substitute, though, and injected some speed and trickery into the Magpies’ attack.
The 22-year-old and fellow summer signing Andy Carroll caused plenty of problems for Graham Potter’s side in the closing stages, and despite being unable to find a way of snatching all three points, the former Nice flier said he was happy to be back on the pitch after a tough start to his time on Tyneside.
“I’m very happy, because it’s been a long time for me with injury,” he told nufc.co.uk. “Normally, I don’t get this injury, but this happened because the Premier League is very physical and I have to adapt myself quickly.
“It was hard (being injured), because I trained hard to come back and everybody didn’t want this to happen again. I will work hard to be good for next week.
“But I’m really happy to be back – I would prefer to be back with a win, but we’ve drawn 0-0 and we have to keep going for the next game.”
He added: “I feel like Brighton played well in the first half – they tried to play really good football, and in the second half they were a little bit tired.
“When I came on the pitch with Andy, we made a lot of pressure, and we played better I think. We played better because they were tired and we tried to score, but that’s football.”
Saint-Maximin received a warm reception when he was sent out to warm up, as well as when he entered the fray to replace Miguel Almirón.
And he voiced his appreciation for the backing he has been given by the Newcastle faithful, as attention turns to their games against Leicester City and Manchester United before next month’s international break.
“It was very nice. The supporters are very good with me,” he said. “It’s for this that I try to do my job – I try to run, to dribble, to cross, to shoot. I didn’t have a lot of time today, but it’s normal. I will wait for the next game.
“We have two games and we want to do everything to do a great job in those games.”