Lanre Oyebanjo believes he has emerged from his injury nightmare as a better player.

The Crawley Town full-back made his first appearance of what has been a season of false dawns in the 2-0 victory over Newport County on Tuesday.

A summer knee operation was initially expected to keep him out for around six weeks but instead he missed seven long months due to a series of setbacks and the need for further surgery.

Oyebanjo admits his prolonged spell on the sidelines was the toughest period of a career which has taken him from Brentford to Histon and York before arriving at Crawley in June 2014.

But the 25-year-old refused to wallow in the sense of injustice and instead used his enforced inactivity as an opportunity to improve his game.

Oyebanjo made a point of watching every Crawley home game – all 18 of them – as well as a number of the away matches to assess where he could improve his game once he was fit again.

And although he found it painful to watch sometimes he is confident those hours sitting in the stands rather than being out on the pitch will stand him in good stead as he looks to finish a difficult season on a high.

Oyebanjo said: “Being out for such a long time has been a test but mentally I think I have become a lot stronger for it.

“I have also used it as an opportunity to take a step back and analyse games.When you are playing you get caught up in the emotion of a game but sitting in the stands it is much easier to assess things.

“Obviously you want to be out there kicking the ball but I tried to use the time as productively as possible and hopefully I’ll reap the benefits of that. You put yourself in the position of one of the other lads and try to work out what you would do in certain situations.

“The main thing I think it will help improve is my positioning while it also means I know how the other lads play already so it should help me integrate back into the team more easily now I am fit again.”

Oyebanjo was one of the few players to emerge from Crawley’s relegation from League One last season with much credit but there is no doubt his reputation has been enhanced further by his spell on the sidelines.

Boss Mark Yates has tried five different players at right-back – Lewis Young, Bobson Bawling, Liam Donnelly, Josh Emmanuel and Josh Yorwerth – with mixed success this season as well as trying to get around the problem by playing with three centre-backs.

Oyebanjo’s return combined with the loan signing of left-back Charles Dunne from Blackpool allowed Yates to revert to a flat back four with two recognised full-backs against Newport and the result was a second clean sheet in their last eight games.

The former Republic of Ireland under-21 international was delighted with such a successful return and the standing ovation he received when he was substituted after 86 minutes made all the long hours of rehabilitation worthwhile.

“I always believes I would get back at some point this season but it was very frustrating as every time I got close I suffered another setback,” added Oyebanjo. “When I was told I needed another operation it was hard to deal with but everyone has setbacks in life they have to overcome.

“It was hard to watch the lads running out there when that is all you want to do.

“I don’t think you realise how much football means to you until you are injured for a long time but now I’ve come through it I’ve got that extra hunger.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead as I’m just happy just to be playing again. I am dying for the games to come as quickly as possible and would play every day if I could.”