BRIAN Murphy feared that he would be dropped from the team, after being unwittingly caught up in the drama of the Icelandic volcano ash cloud saga during the week.

BRIAN Murphy feared that he would be dropped from the team, after being unwittingly caught up in the drama of the Icelandic volcano ash cloud saga during the week.

Ipswich Town’s keeper missed training on Thursday, due to the grounding of all flights in and out of the UK, leaving him with a race against time to be back in Suffolk in time for Saturday’s home game against Doncaster Rovers.

The Irishman had gone back to his native country, for family reasons, but it almost ended up costing him his place in the team.

Fortunately, manager Roy Keane had sympathy with his keeper’s plight, so the 26-year-old was able to make it 14 appearances on the bounce in the 1-1 draw against Doncaster.

He was only denied another clean-sheet by an 83rd minute penalty from Dean Shiels, which cancelled out Connor Wickham’s fifth goal of the season just 11 minutes earlier.

“You couldn’t have made it up!” admitted Murphy.

“I went home for personal reasons, a family matter, and I didn’t think a volcano would stop everything!

“But I made it back anyway. In fairness, I was expecting a kick up the backside and I was probably lucky to play today.

“There was only one ferry available. Once everyone knew the flights were going to be delayed for more than a few hours, they were all being booked up. The Irish ferries certainly made their best money in years!

“I also had to get my girlfriend to drive me back in her jeep because there was no rental companies with cars left, and the trains were taking 12 to 15 hours, so in fairness to her, she drove me down!

“Yet I was not worried that I would miss the game. Once I had the ferry booked, I was always going to get back.

“I had no preferential treatment. Not many people know my name anyway around the place,” joked Murphy, who was back in England on Thursday evening.

In terms of receiving any internal club discipline, Murphy said: “I’d rather not say whether I got a fine. That’s between me and the manager.

“But in one sense I was probably lucky to get back and lucky to play today.

“I don’t normally go home during the week, unless we have three or four days off. We did have Wednesday off, and I went home on Tuesday after training.”

Murphy had no qualms about Doncaster’s late penalty, which denied him a possible seventh clean-sheet in his 14 Town outings.

“I thought it was a penalty. It was definitely a push, yes, and the referee was pretty quick to give it,” said Murphy.

“The gaffer was disappointed at the end of the match, like we all were.

“We got the goal and then gave away a silly penalty, which cost us three points. But we were not good enough to win the game.”