Murphy has scored in back-to-back appearances for the Magpies.
Newcastle United striker Daryl Murphy has told Chronicle Live that he is delighted to be playing a leading role for the club after so long watching on the sidelines, but admits he is not yet fully match fit.
Murphy was signed by the Magpies in late August from Ipswich Town for an undisclosed fee, but injuries and stiff competition limited him to just a scattered handful of appearances in his first few months on Tyneside.
However, the 33-year-old has come to the fore in recent weeks, coming on as a late substitute in the defeat to Blackburn Rovers before taking just six minutes of his FA Cup start against Birmingham City to score last weekend.
Murphy weighed in with an even more decisive contribution this past Saturday, coming off the bench after less than half an hour for the injured Dwight Gayle and heading home a late winner.
With two goals in his last two games, Murphy is finally playing a tangible role for Newcastle, and he admitted that he is delighted to finally be in the thick of the action, although he revealed that he is not yet fully match fit.
Murphy told Chronicle Live: “I’ve waited so long for a chance that I’ve spent a lot of time sitting in the stands, watching the delivery from the wide players, and thinking: ‘I’d love to be on the pitch getting onto the end of that’.
“It would be a nice to get a run now, especially on the back of scoring a couple of goals. We’ll see what the manager chooses. I’m still not up to full match speed. You can do all the running in training you like, and work as hard as you can behind the scenes, but at the end of the day, you need to play to get properly up to speed.
“Hopefully I can be involved a lot more. I always knew I’d get a chance to show what I could do. I wasn’t signed for nothing – the gaffer knows I have experience in this league, and I’ve done it here over the years. I just had to make sure that I was fit and available, and ready to come on at any given time. I had to be ready to start whenever, and that’s been the case in the last couple of weeks. Long may it continue.
“He knew that with my experience, and the fact I can score goals in this league, I could add something to the squad, something different to what we have. It’s just been a case of waiting for a chance, but now I’ve had that, and I’ve chipped in with a couple of goals.”
Murphy may not have the stamina or the technical quality to lead the line for Newcastle on a regular basis, but he has proven that he can weigh in with decisive contributions if given the chance.
With the Magpies bracing themselves for an absence of a least a couple of weeks for their top scorer Gayle, Murphy will be hoping that he has shown enough to warrant being called upon from the start by Rafa Benitez.
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