JOSH Murphy will draw on his play-off experience, including promotion to the Premier League, as he bids to help Oxford United reach the second tier.
The 29-year-old winger returned to Norwich City for the play-offs, having spent the final months of the 2014/15 season on loan at Wigan Athletic, and was an unused substitute when the Canaries beat arch-rivals Ipswich Town in the semi-finals.
Norwich then won 2-0 against Middlesbrough in the final, to seal an immediate return to the top flight, where Murphy made his league debut during the 2013/14 campaign.
Murphy has also suffered heartache in the play-offs, when Cardiff City lost 3-2 on aggregate to Fulham in the Sky Bet Championship semi-finals.
He played the final 20 minutes of the first leg, which Fulham won 2-0, while he was involved from the start in the second leg.
Current U’s teammate Joe Bennett played the full 90 minutes for the Bluebirds in both matches.
Both players will now look to play key roles down the United left-hand side, when they tackle Peterborough United in the play-off semi-finals.
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Des Buckingham’s side welcome the Posh in the first leg on Saturday evening, with the return clash the following Wednesday.
Speaking after the U’s secured a play-off spot, Murphy said: “I said to the boys that we need to enjoy the moment. It doesn’t come around very often.
“I got promoted with Norwich through the play-offs and that was unbelievable. We got knocked out when I was at Cardiff, so I’ve had a good experience and a bad experience, so I want to make sure this is a positive one.
“I’ll try and help as much as I can. The group that we’ve got is just excited, and we want to get out there and put our best foot forward.”
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The outcome of the semi-final clash with the Posh is hard to determine, with both teams dominating the regular league games on their own patch.
The Posh won 3-0 at London Road in December, with the goals coming from Hector Kyprianou, Ricky-Jade Jones and Ryan de Havilland.
Earlier this month, United swatted aside Peterborough with a 5-0 thrashing of Darren Ferguson’s side. Mark Harris opened the scoring from the penalty spot, before further goals came from Murphy, a Ruben Rodrigues brace, and a late Billy Bodin effort.
Murphy said: “It’s going to be a great two games, and we’re going to be well-prepared. These are exciting times at the moment, and I’m sure the manager will prep us well.
“We’ll go in full of confidence. They’re a very strong team, and earlier in the season, it was a very different game.
“We’re high on momentum at the moment, so we’ll go into it full of confidence.”
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