Murphy mystified by second-half collapse

DARYL Murphy must wonder what he has let himself in for at his new club.

Carl Marston

DARYL Murphy must wonder what he has let himself in for at his new club.

The Sunderland loanee has been brought in to score goals, by Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane, and you can't really argue with a start of three goals in three games.

But Murphy's goals - and he could have had a few more - have not been enough to push stuttering Town up the table.

In fact, the Irishman admits that his new team are “in a mess.”

“It's down to us now to try and lift ourselves from the mess we're in, and climb the table,” insisted Murphy, who scored the opener in Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat at Peterborough.

“It was a must-win game for us really, and obviously we didn't do that, which was disappointing.

“We had other chances in the first half. I had a few myself and if we'd got a second goal it would have been a very different game,” added Murphy.

It was looking so promising for Town, when Murphy nodded home Grant Leadbitter's corner after just nine minutes at Peterborough.

But once again, Keane's men folded in the second half, conceding three unanswered goals from Liam Dickinson, Lee Frecklington and Craig Morgan.

“We seem to be doing that a lot lately,” admitted Murphy.

“We're doing well at the start of games, scoring early goals, but then we should be relaxing a bit and keeping the ball.

“It's happened in each of the three games I've played so far.

“We've looked comfortable and then in the second half looked a totally different team. I don't know whether it's concentration or what it is.

“We're just coming out for the second half and not starting at all.”

Target man Murphy, who is on loan from Sunderland for the rest of the season, recognises the importance of Saturday's trip to fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday.

“We've got another massive game this Saturday,” confessed Murphy.

“We just have to pick ourselves up and move on to the next game.”