Murphy: ‘Shooting was the only thing on my mind’

Striker admitted shooting was the only thing on his mind as he fired home Ipswich Town’s equaliser against Preston this afternoon.

The Irishman levelled things up before the break after Daniel Johnson had given the visitors the lead, collecting a neat ball from Luke Chambers before moving inside and firing low into the net from 25 yards for his eighth of the season.

Murphy agreed with manager Mick McCarthy that a draw was a fair result and that his side should have had a penalty following a hand ball from Paul Huntington, but was pleased to find the net.

“It wasn’t the best of games. The pitch wasn’t great so we couldn’t pass the ball around as much as we wanted but overall, I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t win,” he told Ipswich Player HD.

“I think it was probably a fair result. I didn’t see the last decision there, but the lads are convinced it’s a stonewall penalty and that the Preston player literally had his hand on the ball on the ground for a few seconds, but you get those sometimes and sometimes you don’t.

“It was a good finish (for the goal). I had a few chances and the keeper saved one of them, but I was delighted to get on the scoresheet. They gave me a lot of space to line it up so there was only one thing in my mind when I turned and that was to shoot.

“The gaffer said after the game that sometimes you have to see it out and the main thing was that we didn’t lose, so onto the next one.”