Gus Poyet has already hailed Adam El-Abd as his best defender since taking charge at Albion.

Now the manager has christened the Brighton-born braveheart ‘Rambo’.

El-Abd has earned the accolade after it emerged he played an entire game over Christmas with a stress fracture of the right foot.

His courageous part in the 5-2 victory at relegation rivals Wycombe Wanderers last week was disguised by the Seagulls’ second-half fightback and Glenn Murray’s four-goal haul at a snowy Adams Park.

But El-Abd’s absence from the defence for the first time in 12 matches under Poyet at Torquay last Saturday has highlighted a freak injury sustained during the Boxing Day deadlock against Leyton Orient at Withdean.

El-Abd revealed: “I have stress fractured my metatarsal, the middle one, which the specialists are telling me is the best one to do, the quickest to heal.

“I first felt it as I ran out for the second half against Orient. I think I may have done it running over the track because we had been given a bit of a gee-up in the dressing room at half-time.

“It gradually got worse throughout the 15 minutes that I was on in the second half, but I didn’t feel it again until I started to warm up at Wycombe.

“I thought at first it might be my boots so I kept on changing them. The boys were wondering why I was being so fussy but the foot was hurting.

“I knew I had done something but I didn’t think it was broken. I’ve bruised my foot a few times and that felt pretty similar. You cannot really tell too much difference because the bones are so small.

“If I am honest I should really have held my hand up before the game and pulled out but I thought I could run it off with adrenalin and I wouldn’t feel it.

“Then we went 1-0 down, so I thought I couldn’t come off then because it would have looked as if I was chucking it in. Basically I had to grit my teeth and get through it.

“It was foolish really, because it got worse and worse throughout the game. By the end of it I was really hobbling about like a man with a walking stick.”

Perhaps fans can forgive El-Abd now for his involvement in the defensive chaos which led to Wycombe’s opening goal and conceding the free-kick when Peter Brezovan dropped a simple catch to gift the home side a 2-1 lead.

Poyet has made it clear through his team selections that he thinks a lot of the versatile El-Abd.

The Uruguyan has used him at left-back before Jimmy McNulty’s recovery from injury, at right-back and at centre-half in the Wycombe game.

El-Abd is on crutches and will definitely miss the next two league games at home to Brentford on Saturday and away to Walsall a week later.

Poyet will be relieved if ‘Rambo’ is at least available for the FA Cup trip to Aston Villa later this month, because strong characters will be needed for that one.