Keeper, 42, comes full circle as he plays for boyhood club in Carabao Cup – 23 years after facing same team in FINAL
pstrongJOE MURPHY played for Tranmere against Leicester last night, 23 years after starting a League Cup final between the same two teams./strong/p
pTranmere met the Foxes at the old Wembley following a sensational run to the final in 1999-2000./p
figure id=attachment_23698499 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 675pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2000-picture-mark-robinson-1964587.jpg?strip=allamp;w=665 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23698499 width=665 height=960 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditNews Group Newspapers Ltd/figcredit/figureJoe Murphy played in the 2000 League Cup final for his boyhood club[/caption]
figure id=attachment_23698534 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/joe-murphy-tranmere-rovers-reacts-841058818.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23698534 width=960 height=640 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditGetty/figcredit/figureMurphy, 42, is back with his beloved Tranmere[/caption]
pIn the showpiece match, 18-year-old Murphy was given the nod between the sticks./p
pIt wasn#8217;t quite to be for John Aldridge#8217;s men, who were beaten 2-1 on that occasion thanks to Matt Elliott#8217;s double./p
pThe match remains a special memory for Murphy, however, who went on to be capped by Ireland and play in the Premier League./p
pHe returned to boyhood club Tranmere in 2019, largely serving as their experienced backup goalkeeper./p
pMurphy has played in this season#8217;s a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/league-cup/League Cup/a matches, however, and was last night given another opportunity to face a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196651/leicester-city/Leicester/a./p
pAhead of the match, he told a href=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/28/tranmeres-joe-murphy-eight-of-the-team-werent-born-when-i-made-my-debut target=_blank aria-label=The Guardian (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerThe Guardian/a: #8220;It’s all a bit surreal./p
p#8220;I’ve been full circle club-wise with coming back three years ago to where it all started for me, and now this. It does make you feel old.#8221;/p
pMurphy, 42, acquitted himself well against Enzo Maresca#8217;s Foxes, but was powerless to prevent his side falling to a 2-0 defeat./p
p class=has-text-align-centerstronga href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/betting/21097803/casino-welcome-bonus/ target=_blank aria-label=CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerCASINO SPECIAL #8211; BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS/a/strong/p
pa href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/wilfred-ndidi/Wilfred Ndidi/a gave Leicester the lead on 55 minutes, before a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/jamie-vardy/Jamie Vardy/a#8216;s header sealed progression to round three./p
pEight of Tranmere#8217;s current squad were not born when Murphy played for them in the League Cup final./p
pOn this remarkable stat, he added: #8220;It’s crazy, but nice.#8221;/p
pMurphy left Tranmere for West Bromwich Albion in 2002./p
pOn his Baggies debut he saved a penalty from a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/michael-owen/Michael Owen/a with his first touch, following Russell Hoult#8217;s red card./p
pStints with Sunderland and Walsall followed, before more long-term stays at Scunthorpe and Coventry./p
pHe also played for Huddersfield, Chesterfield, Bury and Shrewsbury before re-signing for Tranmere./p
figure id=attachment_23698541 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-image-used-editorial-purposes-841054510.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23698541 width=960 height=640 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditAlamy/figcredit/figureMurphy, 42, couldn#8217;t stop himself from falling to a 2-0 defeat[/caption]