Goalkeeper Joe reviews Saturday’s draw
- Joe Murphy reviews 1-1 draw at Fulham
- Goalkeeper happy to be playing regularly
- Irishman discusses Fulham's late leveller
Joe Murphy’s deserved a clean sheet for his performance in goal for Town at Fulham on Saturday, but even he could do nothing about the late, late equaliser at Craven Cottage.
The 34 year-old Irishman has impressed since taking over the goalkeeping berth in the last three games, never more so than on Saturday when he made three great saves to keep Town ahead until Cauley Woodrow’s point-blank 95th minute goal.
“I’m happy on a personal level I suppose, but it was a quiet dressing room after such a late blow. We were so disappointed to concede in time added on. I made one or two saves, but that’s my job,” Joe told htafc.com.
“I thought it was a perfect away performance from us. We frustrated them and the crowd booed them off the pitch at half time. It was tough for the lads on such a hot day, so we tried to slow it down as much as we could and I thought we did really well. I’m sure that didn’t make it great to watch, but you do that away from home in this division.
“The Manager had told us our chance would come and it did through Nahki, who has really looked sharp since the start of pre-season. He tucked the goal away.
“We knew they were going to throw the kitchen sink at us and the big lad (Dan Burn) came up top; it happens nearly every game. When that happens, the second ball is massive. Whether he nods it or ‘Huddy’ or ‘Lynchy’ win it, it’s not going to go far with him challenging and as we saw for their goal, it just dropped down.
“I suppose we can ask whether big Ish (Miller) should come back to help, but we actually felt that Harry (Bunn) was fouled in the corner. I was quite far away, but I thought I could see it. The goal came from that free kick being played long.”
Despite the immediate disappointment of dropping two points at Fulham, the ‘keeper is delighted to be playing regularly after a season serving as Alex Smithies’ backup:
“It’s obviously different now, but I’ve been a footballer a long time and I’m a laidback sort of guy. Nothing surprises you in football, but I didn’t even know myself before I was given the shirt against Blackburn.
“It’s great; everyone is in professional football to play. I didn’t come here to sit on the bench. I’d played around eight seasons on the bounce before coming here and it is tough, especially as a goalkeeper. The constant kicking is hard and sorting out your distances; I like to play really high in my goal like a sweeper, so I have to get my judgement back.
“I’m just getting on with it. Whether you are playing against Wayne Rooney or the lads from Fulham, they all want to do the same thing – score goals! The quality might be a bit different, but I just have to communicate and keep focused on the game. I’m enjoying it.”
On Smithies, who left the Cub for QPR last week, he added:
“In my eyes Alex deserves everything he gets because he’s an outstanding goalkeeper. I said that the first day I walked in the building; I’ve said this before in the press, but he’s technically the best goalkeeper I’ve worked with. I hope Rob Green moves on, because he deserves to start for QPR.
“It’d be nice if we pitted our wits against each other when QPR visits next week; hopefully he has a bad game then though! I’m sure he’d get a great reception after being with the Club so long and doing such great things.”
