Brighton striker Glenn Murray has been discharged from hospital after being knocked unconscious during his team’s Premier League victory at Newcastle.

Murray underwent extensive treatment on the pitch at St James’ Park after a clash of heads with defender Federico Fernandez, with worried team-mates immediately signalling medics to come to his aid.

However, Seagulls boss Chris Hughton later revealed that the Cumbria-born player had been released from hospital after checks.

Hughton said: “He’s okay. He’s been discharged from hospital. As most saw, he was out and so what will happen is now, of course, we will do the appropriate things this week.

“But he’s had everything that he’s needed to have, the correct quick scans and so on, and everything is fine so it will just be a question now of recovering, but he’ll obviously be sore for a while.

“From where we are, we had no idea. We knew what had happened, that there had been a collision, but we had no idea of any other details. But when you see the players as distressed as they were, then it makes you even a little bit more concerned.”

Magpies boss Rafael Benitez saw his side’s winless start to the Premier League season extend to nine games, a fate they last suffered in 1898 when they went 10 without a victory.

Five successive home defeats have done little to ease the anxiety around a club which has seemingly staggered from one crisis to another throughout its recent history.

But asked he he remains confident he can drag them out of an alarming tailspin, the Spaniard replied: “Yes.”

Asked further if the current situation is the toughest he has faced as a manager, he added: “Yes, at the moment, yes. I have had a lot of situations, but at the moment, obviously it’s a difficult task.”

Beram Kayal’s first-half strike was enough to claim the points for Brighton, who last won away from home in the top flight against Swansea on November 4 last year.

There was an element of fortune about it as Jose Izquierdo’s shot clipped both defender Paul Dummett and the midfielder on its way past keeper Martin Dubravka, although there was no luck about the way the Seagulls defended as Newcastle sought a way back into the game.

Benitez said: “Today’s game with the chances we created, we could have beaten Brighton. We didn’t do it.

“They did well – they managed the game, they wasted time, they were doing what they had to do to get a result and we didn’t create enough, or we didn’t create enough clear chances or we didn’t take our chances, and that’s it.”

On the other hand, Hughton was understandably delighted with a priceless away win.

He said: “It’s a big victory for us that we have had to earn. We were up against probably more shots than we would be in a normal game, and that’s a side desperate to get a result.

“It’s the type of victory that you have to work really hard to get.”