The Sky Bet Championship clash at Fratton Park finished 1-1, and after the full-time whistle, Buckingham guided former U’s winger Murphy towards the away end, whereupon he was given a warm reception by the travelling support.
Murphy left United in the summer as a free agent, turning down fresh deals from the U’s in order to make the move to Pompey at the end of June.
READ ALSO: Des Buckingham questions penalty call which went against U’s at Pompey
The 29-year-old was instrumental in United’s promotion from League One last season, and was in sensational form from mid-February onwards, with six goals scored in 16 regular league games.
He capped off the campaign with the match-winning brace in the 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers in the League One play-off final.
Buckingham said: “You talk about the culture and the environment around this club, and I think anywhere that you go, you do a lot of work to bring people to your club, and you sell them what that looks like.
“You look after them to the best of your ability while they’re with you, and you hope they do the same, and then I think it’s important you do the same at the end whatever the end looks like.
“That for me when you look back at what Josh allowed us to go on and do last year, was a massive contribution to us winning and getting through the play-offs, and winning at Wembley.
“He didn’t really have a chance to say thank you to the fans, and for them to send him off.
“That’s the type of club we want to be. What he’s done is allow us to be where we are, and he contributed towards that.
“It was only right that we took him over and full credit to our fans, who have given him a really good clap and a really good send-off, and it was a nice way to close that off.”
The individual battle between Murphy and U’s right back Peter Kioso was one of the most intriguing plots within the game at Fratton Park, with Murphy arguably the biggest threat for Pompey down their left-hand side, although Kioso more than gave him a match, and won his fair share of the duels between the two players.
Buckingham said: “They’re both very good players. Josh is a really good attacking player and PK is a very good defensive player.
“It was a wonderful match-up and I think you saw that throughout the whole 90 minutes.”