DANNY Gabbidon endured a frustrating return to Premier League action after spending 21 months on the treatment table.

The Wales international has not featured in the league since West Ham United's game against Blackburn Rovers on December 9 2007.

The central defender played in the unfamiliar role of left-back during the 1-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic.

“It felt good. Obviously I would have preferred to play centre-half to left-back, as it's been a while since I've played there. It just felt great to be out there again. It was a tough game and I enjoyed every minute of it,” he said.

Hugo Rodallega gave Wigan the win against West Ham at the DW Stadium on Saturday.

Robert Green can consider himself unlucky after his brilliant save from Jason Koumas fell to the feet of the Columbian, who was left with the simplest of tasks to stab into an unguarded net.

The result saw the Hammers slip down into 12th place in the league.

A series of abdominal injuries and problems during rehab sidelined Gabbidon until the end of last season, when he got back into full training.

The 30-year-old believed West Ham could have got a draw with Wigan.

He said: “We didn't really kick into life until they scored, then we created some chances. Up until then, it was pretty much of a stalemate game. It was a disappointing because I didn't think either team really deserved to lose.”