Brentford vs Ipswich match report: Mick McCarthy confident Ipswich will keep goal-hungry Daryl Murphy

Brentford 2 Ipswich Town 4

(Getty Images)

Daryl Murphy continued the remarkable goalscoring form that Mick McCarthy admitted will pique the interest of other teams with the transfer window looming.

However, the Ipswich Town manager insists the club can afford to turn down any offers – well, almost any offers.

McCarthy watched his striker add to his value with two goals and an assist as Ipswich proved too strong for Brentford. The Irishman is now the leading scorer in the division with 16 goals this season – already three more than he managed last.

“I am not worried about any offers in January. At the moment we are in the top two of the league and he is top scorer,” McCarthy said. before adding a caveat. “If someone comes in and offers bonkers money then it will upset the apple cart and I will have to deal with it.

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“We turned down £7.5m for David McGoldrick, £3.5m for Tyrone Mings. The owner Marcus [Evans] has a chunk of dough, and that is the support he gives me meaning I don’t have to sell my best players, and why would I when we are towards the top of the league? The first goal changed the dynamic of the game in 18 seconds. You score like that against a team that has been so dominant and it gives us the advantage.”

The opening goal came from the game’s first attack and caught Brentford cold as Anderson found Murphy whose left-foot finish flew into the top corner. The 31-year-old doubled the lead on 20 minutes as he outmuscled Tony Craig before rounding Bees keeper David Button and rolling the ball into an unguarded net. And on the half hour it was 3-0 when Murphy passed on the opportunity to shoot from Jay Tabb’s cross and the beneficiary was Anderson who tapped in at the far post.

Brentford substitute Sam Saunders got two late goals, the first after a big deflection, the second as time ran out. However, any hope of a comeback was snuffed out by Ipswich centre-back Tommy Smith who slammed home his side’s fourth goal. Mark Warburton, the Brentford manager, said: “We dominated possession but we were three down at half-time from three errors. I don’t mind mistakes but we have to learn from it. You can’t go three down to teams of that quality. We were uncharacteristically sloppy today. We were a little bit tentative and maybe that first-minute goal unnerved a couple of our players.”

Brentford (4-2-3-1): Button; Odubajo, Craig, Dean, Bidwell; Douglas (Toral 65), Diagouraga; Jota, Pritchard, Judge (Saunders 75); Gray (Proschwitz 65). Subs not used Bonham, Dallas, Smith, Tarkowski.

Ipswich Town (4-1-3-2): Bialkowski; Chambers, Berra, Smith, Parr; Skuse; Anderson (N Hunt 65), Bishop (Bru 72), Tabb (S Hunt 72); Murphy, McGoldrick. Subs not used Gerken, Clarke, Ambrose, Sammon

Referee F Graham.

Attendance 12,165