Soccer:Daryl Murphy was relieved to make an early impact at Celtic by opening his goalscoring account for his new club. The Irish striker converted from the penalty spot to claim the only goal of the game in last weekend's game at Motherwell.
The win allowed the Hoops to maintain their 100 per cent start to the domestic campaign and move top of the SPL on goal difference ahead of the international break. And Murphy has revealed how no-one else stood a chance of taking the spot-kick once the award had been given.
“Before the game I said to Scott Brown, ‘If we get a penalty today I am taking it and that’s it’. As soon as it was given, I looked straight for the ball, to see who had it. Thankfully Sami (Georgios Samaras) was off the pitch at the time, because I think he would have fancied it as well.
“It gives you a lift when you score early in your career at a club and I think it’s important for any striker to get off the mark as soon as they can at a new club.”
However, Murphy — who joined from Sunderland in the summer — refused to bask in the glory of his winner afterwards, despite the players being given the following day off.
He added: “I don’t think you have time to celebrate goals. I know we had a day off, but I am still up every morning, dropping the kids off at school, so I thought there was no point going home to go back to bed. I thought I might as well come in and do a bit.”
Meanwhile, manager Neil Lennon hopes his new-look side will be able to gel now that the transfer deadline has passed and he now knows exactly who he has at his disposal for the coming months.
Lennon said: “I am pretty happy. We got Anthony Stokes in on the last day of the window, so I am very pleased about that. I would have liked another one player, but these things are there to test you.
“We knocked on doors a few times, but were refused and there’s not a lot you can do about that. But that’s the window shut now and hopefully we will be able to settle things down and work with the squad — although, unfortunately at the minute, most of the squad are away on international duty.”