Murphy left Carlisle in 2007 only to rejoin when he did not find a new club

Carlisle United defender Peter Murphy has set his sights on closing in on Allan Ross's 32-year-old record of 466 appearances for the club.

Murphy, 30, reached the 400 mark in last week's 1-1 draw with Plymouth and was in the side that beat Bournemouth 1-0 in Saturday's game.

"It's targets like that you have to aim for," Murphy told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"I haven't played as many games as I would have liked this year so any game I can play is a bonus for me."

Murphy added: "I want to play as many games as I can.

"In the league you're trying to finish as high as you can, play as many games as you can and strikers are trying to score as many goals as they can.

"They're the things that keep you going."

Friday's trip to Brentford marks the first of a brace of games for Carlisle against Nicky Forster's side that includes an important league fixture, and then nine days later the club's second visit to Wembley in as many years for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.

"People might read too much into it, but Wembley's a cup game, a one-off occasion, so as far as we're concerned Brentford in the league is our next game," Murphy continued.

"It's the one we've got to look forward to, and concentrate on, and we can't look too far ahead.

"We've been fortunate that the team has been doing well. Sometimes teams can slack off going into Wembley, but we've not done that so Brentford is another big games so hopefully we can get a win or at least a draw."

Murphy joined Carlisle in 2001 from Blackburn and has played for the Republic of Ireland.

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