The City keeper admits he was disappointed with performance despite penalty heroics
Coventry City penalty shoot-out hero Joe Murphy admitted he was disappointed after beating Burton Albion on penalties.
After a goalless 90 minutes, which was dominated by the home side, it was up to Murphy to net the winning penalty for City. With the scores at 9-9, the keeper sent it down the middle to send City through to the second round of the Johnstone Paint Trophy.
Despite scoring the winning penalty, and saving two of Burton's, Murphy said he was disappointed he didn’t save some of the earlier penalties to end the shoot-out sooner.
The City keeper said: “It was great to get the winning penalty but really I was a bit disappointed at the end of it.
“My penalty was meant to be in the corner but I suppose if you just get a bit of height on it, you have a chance.
“I have never took a penalty before so it was good to score it and put us through. I was in line to take a penalty a few years ago but I never got to so that is one I can tick off the list.
“I feel I should have saved some of the earlier penalties from Burton as some weren’t exactly in the bottom corner and I could have saved them.
“You always feel like that in a penalty shoot-out and it comes with an added pressure. We didn’t do well in the 90 minutes and we know we have to improve.”
The Sky Blues had plenty of chances to win the game in the second half through Stephen Elliott and Gary McSheffrey but Burton Albion remained resolute.
Murphy believes City need to improve ahead of the Stevenage game on Sunday at the Ricoh Arena.
He added: “It was a great moment, but I think we have got a lot to work on going forward. It shouldn’t have come to that and I am sure it was exciting for the fans but I was quite frustrated.
“It wasn’t a good performance and we are not happy with that. The Birmingham game was really impressive and we need to get back to those levels.
“There is a lot we can take out of the game and we know we have to improve ahead of Stevenage. The league is the be all and end all, and we want to make sure we get properly going sooner rather than later.
“We have got to be hard on ourselves as it wasn’t what we wanted but I suppose I am happy because I have got a clean sheet.
“A lot to work on but we will get it right.”