Murphy on cloud nine with Ipswich

Nine was the magic number for Daryl Murphy this weekend as his brace in the 4-1 Championship win over Leeds made it nine goals in nine games for Ipswich’s number nine.

Mick McCarthy’s men fell behind early on but a stunning Murphy header levelled the tie after 12 minutes. A David McGoldrick penalty put Ipswich in front before Murphy grabbed his second on the stroke of half-time as the Tractors Boys maintained their promotion charge. Murphy’s brace means the previously goal-shy striker has already matched last season’s haul of 13 and is now the league’s leading marksman.

McCarthy has challenged Murphy to break the 20-goal barrier and believes the number on the 31-year-old’s back partly explains his rich vein of form.

“The number nine on the back makes a big difference to someone’s confidence,” McCarthy suggested. “They say it doesn’t matter what number you have on your back, but you don’t see too many number nines on the bench. “Let’s see if he can be up there in the 20s and be the leading scorer in the league.”

Elsewhere, Sean Scannell was hailed as “a flying machine” after the wideman inspired Huddersfield to a 2-1 win over Brentford. Scannell scored the first and made the second to put Huddersfield in control. A Jonathan Douglas goal gave Brentford hope and he saw a goal-bound effort cleared off the line late on but Huddersfield held on. Reflecting on Scannell’s exploits, Huddersfield manager Chris Powell said: “People said to me when I came here he doesn’t score goals and doesn’t make assists but he has proven what a good player he is. He can be a matchwinner at this level. He is in a real rich vein of form. He’s a flying machine.”

It was a good weekend for Harry Arter too as his goal helped Bournemouth to a 2-1 win at nine-man Wolves. Matt Doherty was one of those dismissed following an injury-time tackle.

It was FA Cup second round weekend in England and goals from Mark Yeates and Billy Clarke helped Bradford City ease to a 4-1 win over Dartford. Paddy Madden was also on the scoresheet but Scunthorpe were held to a 1-1 draw by Worcester City. Meanwhile, John Egan grabbed his third goal in two games to give Gillingham a 1-0 win over Leyton Orient and with it a place in the Southern section final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.