Town striker Daryl Murphy is on a double mission to steer the team to promotion and post his best-ever goal haul in a season.

The 30-year-old Irishman took his tally for the current campaign to seven when he netted in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.

Murphy, who had three loan spells at Portman Road before signing a permanent two-year deal in the summer following his release by Scottish champions Celtic, has never scored more than 10 goals in any season.

That was in the 2006/07 season, his second with Sunderland after a certain Mick McCarthy forked out £100,000 to sign him from Waterford, and his goals helped the Black Cats to clinch the Championship title.

Murphy netted seven times for Town last season, in a total of 39 league appearances, so to have already matched that tally at the halfway point of the current campaign rates as quite a feat.

He said: “It’s decent enough, although I think I should have a few more goals based on the chances I have had. But I can’t be too disappointed with it and hopefully there are more goals and wins for the team to come.

“I think the fact that I’m on a permanent deal at the club is a big help. It’s just the fact that I’m here and I know I’m not going back anywhere else. I don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen next year or stuff like that.

“I can concentrate mainly on Ipswich Town, focus on the games we have coming up and try to do as well as I can. There will be plenty of hard games but we have shown what we can do in the first half of the season and have nothing to fear.

“It was good to get a goal at Bournemouth and it was a hard-fought point for us. It was a tough game and they are one of the best sides we have played against, to be honest with you.

“Football-wise they were very good and they’ve got some very good individual players. They made it hard for us but I think a point was a good result for us.”

Photo: Action Images

townblue added 11:12 - Jan 1 “I think the fact that I'm on a permanent deal at the club is a big help. It's just the fact that I'm here and I know I'm not going back anywhere else. I don't have to worry about what's going to happen next year or stuff like that." Didn't we offer him a permanent deal like four years ago?
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alfromcol added 11:18 - Jan 1 plenty of tickets sold for today's game. Crowd of over 18500 expected.
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StuartBrett8 added 11:41 - Jan 1 I just wish Murph was able to get on the end of corners, I'm not sure if it's his fault or the corner taker. He's decent in the air, hopefully it'll click today and we'll smack Charlton by at least 4-0 :)
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roytheboy added 11:50 - Jan 1 Daryl has always been a firm favourite of mine, he does a lot more than just score goals, I am very pleased that he is now settled with us.
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ArnieM added 12:09 - Jan 1 He's not consistent enough. Some games he's awesomely effective, others non existent. He also often needs 5 attempts on hoal before he'll eventually stick one in the net
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BillBlue added 12:31 - Jan 1 townblue. No we didn't is the short answer. Celtic paid Sunderland a handsome sum for him and we were lucky to get him on loan and even luckier to keep extending that loan until his Celtic contract was up and we could sign him on a freebie. IMO Murph has become a TrueBlue - through and through.
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bluemikey100 added 13:27 - Jan 1 when first on loan 6 goals in 18 appearances was good marked his debut with goal in 23 seconds and then had scored 3 goals in 3 appearances so cud be more prolific but doin great job with not just his goals
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