Keeper Brian Murphy says Town would prefer to play more attractive football but that the battle to avoid relegation has meant a less pretty approach has been required this season. The Irishman was speaking having made it to Saturday’s game despite being stranded in Ireland by the cancellation of flights due to the Icelandic volcano.

Murphy said: “We want to play attractive football, but we’ve been at the wrong end of the table for that. We’ve had to dig in, work hard and graft in order to get the club going in the right direction.”

The 26-year-old says he only expected to be in Ireland for a day: “I went home on Tuesday after training. It was for personal reasons, to attend to a family matter. We had a day off on Wednesday and I was due to fly back that night.

"But with all flights cancelled I had to book the ferry and it was Thursday night before I was back in Ipswich."

Murphy refused to reveal whether he had been fined by manager Roy Keane: "I'd rather not say - that's between me and the manager."

Meanwhile, Town groundsman Alan Ferguson is due to be part of a delegation from the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) meeting with the FA and the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) today to discuss the Wembley pitch.

Ferguson was set to look at the troublesome current Wembley surface and give the FA and the STRI — who maintain the pitch — the benefit of his experience but it has been torn up prior to his visit.

Photo: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

Lightningboy added 10:12 - Apr 19 Erm,what was the excuse for the appalling "football" being served up back in august,september & october then?..surely we weren't fighting relegation as early as that? Marcus Evans,for the love of god & the sake of our club,get rid of clueless Keane otherwise it'll be another wasted season ahead.
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superblueflude added 10:14 - Apr 19 Lightning, we were actually quite open back then, if you remember, thats why we had games like 3-3, 3-2 etc etc.
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PablosRightBoot added 10:41 - Apr 19 Really? These are the league results from those months. Doesn't suggest open expansive football. I believe we have only had one one 3-2 score which was in January at home to Coventry. We are right to play defensive football if Keane and the staff feel we do not have the squad to play otherwise. August Coventry City A 1 - 2 Leicester City H 0 - 0 Crystal Palace H 1 - 3 WBA A 0 - 2 Preston H 1 - 1 September Middlesbrough A 1 - 3 Notts Forest H 1 - 1 Doncaster A 3 - 3 Newcastle H 0 - 4 Sheffield Utd A 3 - 3 October Barnsley A 1 - 2 Swansea City H 1 - 1 Watford H 1 - 1 Plymouth A 1 - 1 Derby County H 1 - 0

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superblueflude added 10:46 - Apr 19 Doesn't suggest are you mad Place we shipped in 3 goals, brom, borough, newcastle. we needed to tighten the ship up, stop the goals and start winning games, if you cant' see how open we were when shipping in that amount of goals something is clearly wrong
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PablosRightBoot added 10:57 - Apr 19 We conceded 2 goals against West Brom and 4 against Newcastle. They were the worst we played for the early part of the season. I went to those games and we really were not open and attacking. We just defended badly. Suggesting a notion that team that concedes alot is necessary playing attacking football is foolish. You only need to ask Derby fans from their recent Premier League experiences. Those who go to away games will know that albeit sometimes we have not got the resources to attack, it hasn't for one reason or another happened much. There have been a few games like Sheff Utd, Cardiff, QPR, Derby where this happened but not so much early on in the season. I would say that Doncaster and Sheff Utd were the only real examples of an open game given that the scores were both 3-3. A home defeat to Newcastle of 4-0 and an away defeat to West Brom of 2-0 where our keeper saved a penalty, got man of the match and kept the score in single digits doesn't suggest both teams going for the kill somewhat

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superblueflude added 11:00 - Apr 19 Actually newcastle didn't look that great against us, 4-0 flattered them, i sat and thought if we would only move up a gear then bang 1-2-3-4 lol. But we were open, we had width and had our chances - we didn't take them..
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PablosRightBoot added 11:05 - Apr 19 We battled well against Newcastle for 20 minutes or so. We got unlucky and defended badly and the game was over at half time. That was my view
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superblueflude added 11:07 - Apr 19 Saturday will show how far we've come i think.
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PablosRightBoot added 11:14 - Apr 19 According to Google....283 miles via A1(M) and A1 or 347 miles via M1
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Blueknight85 added 11:22 - Apr 19 I fully understand... I want to date a far more attractive woman but sometimes you just have to lower the standards to get the results you need
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Lightningboy added 11:23 - Apr 19 You're just backing up my point that we've got someone in charge who is totally clueless...it's interesting that 5 of Daryl Murphy's goals were scored in his first few games & that he's had 1 in his last 10 or so - Keane & his staff have even managed to drain his confidence in front of goal...the facts speak for themselves - our top scorer has "7"! I can think of one memorable game this season..3-3 away at Donny..have we really accepted that our standards have dropped this far?..I haven't ,which is why I want Keane gone...it just grinds away at me that we're stuck with this guy when Burley (especially Burley),Curbishley,Coppell & Mowbray are all available and will probably be snapped up sooner or later by someone else and we will have missed out. Can someone please explain to me what they've seen in Keane & co this season that makes them think things will be any better (and we need a lot better) next season?

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superblueflude added 11:27 - Apr 19 his confidence in front of goal ey - how many games had he played for sunderland???? and Lightning could it be the fact the Murphy knows he isn't going to get a contract here so he's not putting in the effort that he once was - so bloody obvious.
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Blueknight85 added 11:29 - Apr 19 i would love Mowbray or Curbishley maybe Burely but im more than happy for Keane to have another year
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superblueflude added 11:33 - Apr 19 Mowbray, sacked twice- wow Curbs - ruined west ham - wow Burley - nothing since promotion with us - wow. next
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Blueknight85 added 11:41 - Apr 19 Bit harsh ^ lol
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Lightningboy added 11:43 - Apr 19 Erm superblueflude, I played football last night - I wasn't playing for a contract with anyone but I put in 100% effort and banged in a few goals - there's no greater feeling.. Murphy is a striker,they thrive on goals..I would've thought he'd be desperate to score goals particularly at this level to put himself in the shop window for next season,wouldn't he?..I know I would - he's not going to get a contract anywhere unless he does what he's paid to do. Has your argument applied to all our strikers this season then? - that they know that they're not going to get a contract here next season?..is that why our top scorer's got 7?. I think any decent striker'd be dissappointed in himself if he came off the pitch without scoring,whether he's playing for a contract or not.

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PablosRightBoot added 11:47 - Apr 19 Curbishley didn't ruin West Ham. If you recall alot of signings in and out were done behind his back and he quit. Murphy could be playing below par for a number of reasons. You can't go sacking Keane after one season. It has been a disappointment but he hasn't relgated us. What if one of those managers came in and did a similar job? Do you sack them?
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Lightningboy added 11:48 - Apr 19 Btw.. I do believe West Ham were 5th in the prem when Curbishley departed. Mowbray got WBA into the prem playing attractive football. Burley took Derby & Southampton from the bottom reaches of the championship into the play-offs...and didn't he have Hearts at the top of the scottish prem when he got the push there (by their idiot chairman). Your footballing comments are quite ignorant at times.

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superblueflude added 12:03 - Apr 19 Not really lightning - Mowbray wouldnt change his style hence the relegation and did absolutely nothing at celtic. Burley didn't achieve what you wnat though - promotion! And hearts in a micky mouse league - yeah great and Curbs, all west ham fans blame him for what happend.
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MadDogCal88 added 12:20 - Apr 19 Kicking The Ball High In the Air Up And Down The Pitch Is Not Very Pretty We Need To Pass It Along The Ground And Play Some Real Football Like Arsenal.
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bluepirate added 12:21 - Apr 19 I didnt want to but I had to comment on this. "Mowbray, sacked twice- wow Curbs - ruined west ham - wow Burley - nothing since promotion with us - wow." Mowbray has only been sacked once. His football is the way the game should be played, and its rubbish to say if your struggling you cant play good football, of course you can. Football being played with the ball onj the ground and short quick passing is easiest way to play football, you can do it at the top or the bottom. Look at Wigan, they play some nice stuffand their not going down. West Broms issue was money, they didnt have any, and like Burnley they didnt want to gamble their future on staying in the Prem by bringing in high wage players. Thats why they keep bouncing back, they dont ever have to sell their players and can continue to build a good squad. I bet Roberto doesnt sell anyone, plays god football and might have a chance to keep the in there due to Moggas god work. Curbs didnt ruin Sham, in fact I know a couple of Sham fans, and both wish he didnt leave. That Icelandic Eggert and his bankrupt compnay put Sham in trouble. Burley got Rangers and Celtic looking over their shoulders with Hearts, he put them in the frame and with another year would have been up there, that was until their owner started dictating the transfers. And Burley did achieve promotion.

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naa added 12:25 - Apr 19 super: to be honest, I'm not worried about promotion. All we'd have to hope for their is avoid relegation. It's possible that we could become mid-table regulars, eventually but I'd be perfectly happy to see us play decent football and be in the upper reaches of the table. That's all I ask for. It's this desperation to be more than we are that has resulted in the confused situation we are in, where players are grafted in out of desperation to get something done quick. And also to dis the managers achievements is a bit pathetic. Scots league may be weak, but no-one has been top other than the big two for some time so it was a pretty impressive achievement actually. And if West Ham fans say so then it must be right, because all fans are correctg all the time aren't they? That's obvious from this board alone.

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naa added 12:27 - Apr 19 Oh, and when I said upper-reaches of the table, I'm meant the Championship, obviously. I'm not that much of a fool!
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superblueflude added 12:54 - Apr 19 What im saying is that people aren't looking at the way we have been playing with the right attitude, we could not play the attacking Burley, Mowbray like football we all crave for, i want success and i also what entertaining football, but this season has been all about saving us from relegation and that has meant style second results first. When your up the table not only does it make it easier for the manager to decide on the syle but the players play with confidence they make passes which are unbelieveable all becuase they can take that risk.

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naa added 13:06 - Apr 19 super: partially true, but fact is we were only fighting relegation because of RKs early season problems (of his own making) and we weren't playing overly attractive football then either. So far he's given us no indication that we will play attractive football. I can see next season us playing the same kind of football because "it gets results, and we have to get promoted this year, so we haven't got time to build a playing style etc etc". I want to see proof not hear words. RKs is great at talking sense, now I need to see him displaying the same sense on the football pitch.

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