GOALKEEPER Joe Murphy wants to stay at Bury beyond his current loan deal.

The 35-year-old stopper has kept six clean sheets in nine games since joining from Huddersfield Town in January.

He has impressed despite arriving at Gigg Lane short on first-team football.

Murphy managed just 15 appearances last season and five the year before, and had not played at all in more than a year before making his Shakers debut in a 1-0 win against Swindon last month.

Now the Irishman wants to put down roots in Bury.

“I’m out of contract at the end of the season,” Murphy said. “Of course it interests me. Everything has been great the last six or seven weeks.

“Geographically it’s great for me and my family. I’m 35 now, I’ve got a young family and got to think about that.

“I just want to play football. I have spent too long on the sidelines and I don’t want to do that.

“We’ll see. I’m sure I’ll sit down with the chairman if he wants me and maybe we can sort something out.”

Murphy has been ever-present since manager Lee Clark took control of the club last month, keeping fellow keepers Rob Lainton and Ben Williams out of the team.

Clark has since revealed he is keen to tie his number one down beyond his current deal, but insists he must focus on avoiding the drop before thinking about next season.

“There are lots of decisions to be made on players,” Clark said. “Of course when your goalkeeper’s playing to that sort of level I would be very, very interested in making Joe a permanent signing for us.

“That’s one we can talk about and try to get some closure on but my sole focus can’t be taken away from getting the number of points needed for us to stay in the division.”

Murphy has taken the plaudits for helping plug League One’s most porous defence but he remains humble and is counting down the points to beat the drop after Saturday's 0-0 draw at Millwall extended Bury's run to just one defeat in nine matches.

He said: “I am just doing my job, that’s what I’m here for.

“Every game is going to be like a cup final. The lads showed it to battle through like that against Millwall.

“We are down there and we need to keep picking up the points and ticking the games off.”