ALBION marksman Glenn Murray has welcomed a reunion with his old club Crystal Palace in the Premier League next season.

The Seagulls’s arch rivals ensured safety with a game to spare with a 4-0 win yesterday at Selhurst Park against Hull, a result which sentenced the visitors to relegation and an immediate return to the Championship.

Murray, who joined Palace from Albion six years ago and helped them to promotion, told The Argus: “It’s good for both clubs.

“It’s nice to see Palace stay up and I am sure all the fans will look forward to the two fixtures next year.

“I think a lot of Brighton fans would have liked them to go down but I’m delighted they’ve stayed up and they are a couple of fixtures next year that will be quite good.”

Murray still regrets missing out on the title after Albion failed to win any of their last three games and let in a last-minute equaliser at Aston Villa, enabling Newcastle to pip them.

Speaking on the players’ bus before yesterday’s celebration parade along the seafront, he said: “It’s brought it all back today I think!

“It’ll be a regret of all of ours for years to come but we’ve got the main job done. When we kicked off the season the aim was to get into the Premier League, and now we’ve achieved that and are all looking forward to it.”

Murray missed last week’s trip to Las Vegas for the squad and staff.

The 23-goal spearhead of Albion’s promotion said: “There’s always a big reaction when you get promoted and then it was all focused on trying to win the league.

“But since it’s all finished I’ve kept my head buried in the sand and kept away from it all.

“It’s nice to step away from football. It’s been a long season and to just knock off from it and relax going into the summer is a nice feeling.

“The Championship is very unforgiving physically and it’s relentless, game after game, week after week.

“It’s very unforgiving on the body, whether you’re young or old, but in the Premier League you get much more rest and time to prepare for games.”