Albion boss Chris Hughton has played down an injury scare for Glenn Murray.

Hughton expects last season's top scorer to be fit for the Premier League opener at Watford on August 11 after he went off in the early stages of the closing friendly against Nantes at the Amex.

Murray lasted only 16 minutes before he was replaced by opening goalscorer Tomer Hemed in tonight's 2-1 victory, clinched by Pascal Gross.

Hughton said: "We are very confident about Watford. He (Murray) took a whack in his back in training yesterday and probably tonight came too soon.

"He put himself up for the game, felt he would be fine. There were little signs in the warm-up when he said he was still feeling it a little bit.

"Then it was obvious early in the game that he was struggling a bit. It's disappointing, we probably needed a couple of days, but I'm quite sure he will be fine for next week."

Murray is not the only striker with a question mark over his fitness for the beginning of Albion's second season in the top flight.

Summer signing Florin Andone and Dutchman Jurgen Locadia were both missing from the squad against Nantes.

Romanian Andone has his first outing of pre-season for 45 minutes in Tuesday's 1-0 win behind closed doors in Nice following his move from Deportivo La Coruna.

Locadia went off with a groin injury during the pre-season friendly at AFC Wimbledon last month.

Hughton said: "Locadia is back in training. Florin we are just having to manage him a little bit. He came with an injury (groin), which we were aware of.

"He has been training, but we have just got to manage his minutes a little bit. What is more important is that we have them fresh and available for a longer period."

Jose Izquierdo was another absentee. The Colombian left-winger returned from the World Cup with a minor fitness issue which could affect his availability for the first fixture at Vicarage Road.

Hughton was pleased with the concluding run-out. He said: "Certainly in the first hour I thought we were very good, particularly in the first half.

"But we were up against a good Nantes side with a lot of pace and a very athletic team, with good quality. They tested us and probably we didn't keep the ball well enough in the last half-hour."