ALBION marksman Glenn Murray has rallied to the defence of keeper David Stockdale.

The Seagulls’ No.1 was devastated after Jack Grealish’s shot with a minute of normal time remaining sneaked past him to deny Albion the Championship title at Aston Villa.

Murray, whose 23rd goal of the season from the penalty spot had put Albion on course for the win they needed to go up as champions, said: “I don’t think anyone is looking at David’s as a mistake.

“It’s one of those things. He has rescued us time and time again this year. He has been absolutely magnificent for us.

“People look at it and say ‘It’s David’s mistake’, in our eyes maybe not. We look at it just before, maybe we should have pressed harder, maybe popped out of position, stopped the shot.

“It was just one of those afternoons. It wasn’t to be. It was the 89th minute and left us a mountain to climb.”

Murray’s goal haul since returning from Bournemouth equals the club record at Championship level, set by Bill Curry 57 years ago.

His spot-kick secured Albion’s only point from their final three matches, following defeats against Norwich and Bristol City, and left them a point short of Newcastle.

Murray added: “They say never go back but it’s been a successful year, personally and collectively, and I’m proud of that.

“We are very proud of what we have achieved as a club but we’re very disappointed. We wouldn’t be good professionals if we weren’t disappointed about losing the Championship.

“We worked hard as a team and we performed much better than we had in the last two games. Coming to a difficult place like Villa Park was always going to be hard. We were so close. It wasn’t to be, we dust ourselves off and look forward to a bright future.”