DARYL MURPHY is desperate to get his Newcastle United career up and running after reminding Rafael Benitez of his scoring ability earlier this week.

The Republic of Ireland international’s summer move to St James’ Park stalled when he suffered an injury that prevented him from appearing for the first team after the 2-0 victory over Wolves in the EFL Cup in September.

That remains his only outing for Newcastle since switching from Ipswich Town when Benitez had identified him as a targetman capable of causing problems for Championship defenders.

He is now playing catch-up to Newcastle’s in-form strikers Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic - and Murphy is desperate for more time on the pitch to build up his fitness.

The 33-year-old scored Newcastle’s goal in the Under-23s' 1-1 draw with West Brom at Whitley Park on Monday, but he is still unlikely to be considered for tomorrow's visit of Blackburn to St James’ Park.

Murphy said: “It's probably the most frustrated I've been in my career to be honest. I've never been out for this long so it's all new to me, and watching the lads play week-in, week-out from the stands is not very nice. But I'm back training, I've just got 45 minutes under my belt so hopefully it'll stand me in good stead."

Newcastle have been flying without Murphy, and they can make history if they can claim a tenth straight win in all competitions by defeating Blackburn.

The former Sunderland man told the club's website: “I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I've been back in training for a few weeks now which is obviously good for me, but I think it's game time that gets you that extra bit of sharpness and thankfully I had that on Monday.

"I'll just keep training and hopefully catch the manager's eye. I'm a striker and I want to score goals. The most important thing was just to get minutes under my belt and make sure that injury-wise I'm alright, but the goal was a bonus.

"I've been itching to go since I got injured, and watching the games isn't nice. The lads are on a brilliant run and everyone's playing well, so I need to impress to try and force my way in.

"I can't wait. I was just happy to get through it to be honest, and I felt no niggles or anything like that so that's a plus."

Newcastle are already five points clear at the top of the Championship and there seems to be no stopping them. Benitez, though, is still keeping an eye on how he could improve his squad in January and possibly beyond.

Bournemouth’s talented striker Callum Wilson is one of the names on the radar, but the Cherries rate him highly and are unlikely to do business on the cheap.