Mick McCarthy has heaped praise on Irish hot-shot Daryl Murphy, but revealed he doesn’t put pressure on him to score in every game.

Murphy has 16 goals for the season, going into tonight’s home clash with Charlton, and is four goals away from reaching his half-century as an Ipswich player.

“I don’t put pressure on him to score in every game. I expect a certain standard of performance from him (Murphy) and if he gets his goal, that’s a bonus for me,” added McCarthy.

“If he is expecting to score every game, he is in that groove that if he gets that chance, he is always going to take it at the moment.

“When you are playing well you can’t tell anybody why. It’s just because you are a good player, because you have worked hard, because you have a put a shift in, because you have done all the hours training.

“When it comes it’s a lovely period in your career when everything seems to be going well for you.

“When it’s going badly, everyone can tell you what’s going wrong and you start worrying about it.

“Suddenly you start thinking about it more but I can guarantee you the lads here aren’t doing that too much, they are just relishing the next game at the moment.”