Newcastle striker Daryl Murphy rejected any notion that tiredness played a role in the Magpies’ 3-1 defeat to Fulham at the weekend.
Speaking to the Evening Chronicle, the Irish international believes they cannot use it as an excuse, considering every other team in the division has the same fixture schedule:
“It is tough but we can’t be making excuses. Everybody has to play the same amount of games during the season at some stage. It was tough and against the teams just below us which made it even harder. But we got three good away results. We need to be coming back here on our home turf and dominating teams.”
Murphy came off the bench to score a consolation goal for Newcastle. It was his sixth goal for the club, and with Aleksandar Mitrovic remaining on the bench for the encounter, it shows that the 33 year old is now firmly above the Serbian in the pecking order as backup for Dwight Gayle under manager Rafa Benitez.
The forward struggled to even get into match day squads at the start of the campaign after his £3m move from Ipswich Town. A calf injury also hampered his settling in to life in the North East, but he has been in a rich vein of goalscoring form since returning to full fitness at the start of the year.
