Second part of our Peter Murphy interview
In the second part of our interview with Peter Murphy he spoke to us about the frustration he has felt over the course of the last few months having initially lost his place due to a troublesome groin injury.
“The last few months have been very frustrating,” he admitted.
“I've played nearly 500 games now so that means I’ve played the majority of games through every season I've been here because I’ve been very lucky with injuries.
“The most frustrating part of this season has been having an injury which Dolly [Neil Dalton] and I both thought was something in my stomach.
“We went to see the specialist and he said it was my hernia, which is lower down than where I was feeling the pain. I wasn't sure about that because I've spoken to people who have had hernia problems and I just wasn't getting the same sort of pain.
“I ended up having the double-hernia operation, which kept me out for eight weeks, and when I came back and played in the Swindon game I still had the same pain I’d been getting anyway.
“I was struggling to run and my stomach was in bits. That was even more frustrating because I’d already missed those eight weeks. We went to see the same specialist and he gave me an injection. Three days later I was fit.”
“Obviously while I was out we signed Sean [O'Hanlon] and him and Danny [Livesey] have formed a good partnership,” he explained. “I lost my place and I was left sitting there and thinking that I’d lost my place when I hadn’t really needed to be out for those eight weeks at all.
“Under normal circumstances when you're on the bench and the players in your position are playing well you can understand it. But when you've been out injured because of an operation you didn't feel like you needed it's a little bit more frustrating.”
“I've tried to show people what I'm about again in the last couple of games,” he told us. “After almost 500 games people should probably know, but I know I have to prove myself every day. Hopefully I can play a few more games this season and see what happens. There's real competition for our places in defence at the minute and that can only be a good thing.”
One of the other big talking points from last weekend, of course, was the return of striker Paddy Madden.
“I didn't really get a chance to talk to him on Saturday,” he said. “He's a young lad and he's probably a bit naïve, but he's a very bright football player.
“When he's in game mode he doesn't really talk, which is a good thing. You get some some centre forwards who you'll win headers and tackles against, but he doesn't really get involved. They move in and out and cause problems in other ways, and that’s what Paddy did on Saturday. He was in and out of the game but he still managed to score one and get two assists. That's why he's the top scorer in the division.
“I haven’t been surprised at all at how well he has done. He used to score all the time in training but the problem here was that it wouldn't come off for him in games.
“The 4-3-3 we played didn't suit him, because he isn't the type of player who can play upfront on his own. When we asked him to play on the right he didn't really enjoy the up and down defending side of it. You can see that the 4-4-2 that Yeovil play suits him better because he can float in and out of the game. Unfortunately he wasn't getting goals for us but we're all pleased to see him enjoying his football again.”
And as far as what the club is trying to achieve, he said: “The fans have their expectations based on the success we've had in the last couple of seasons.
“When you look at the squad we have and the budget we have we've probably over-achieved in the last couple of seasons. But then you look at teams like Yeovil, no one expected them to be where they are, and that means it’s their turn to have a bit of that.
“You hear all sorts about the budget and it definitely affects everybody. It's up to us to be the best we can be and there's no hiding away from the fact that we have under-achieved this season. There is nothing wrong with over-achieving and we all want a lot more than what we’ve done this time round. Hopefully next season we’ll get that.”
“There's no doubt about the fact that I want to be part of that next season," he said.
“I still feel that I can give a lot to the club and I love football and training every day. Football is all I've ever known and all I've ever wanted to do. It's a job that I love and a job that I know I'm very lucky to have.”
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