Southampton 1 Ipswich Town 1: Sam Morsy on side’s never-say-die attitude and netting first Premier League goal

Town captain Sam Morsy hailed the Blues’ never-say-die attitude as he struck an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw at Southampton at St Mary’s.

Kieran McKenna’s men struck late to earn their third point of the Premier League season and deny fellow newly-promoted Saints the opportunity to leapfrog them in the table.

The Blues remain outside of the relegation zone courtesy of late drama on the south coast, which saw Morsy net his first ever goal in the top-flight.

While admitting some personal pride at his own achievement, Morsy says the point on their travels was the more important story of the afternoon.

“I’m really delighted and happy with it,” the Egyptian said. “Last minute of the game makes it sweeter and it’s a good point on the road.

“It’s nice to hear about it and something that probably won’t sink in until you reflect on it at the end of your career. But I’m happy with it and happy with a good away point.

“I was just waiting as it’s come out. I thought if I can just get my touch right and just smack it. Luckily it went in.

“It’s been a long old journey. It’s not something you think about or have a goal of, but it feels nice hearing it. You’ll enjoy it and let it sink in on Sunday with friends and family, but by the time Monday comes it’s another week, how can we get better and improve and keep we’ll enjoying the process.

“It’s only really when I score or it’s a huge win, other than that there’s no texts on the phone but they’ll be about 100 tonight! People have supported me throughout my career which I’m grateful for.

“It’s obviously a nice personal achievement and I’m really happy with it.”

Despite falling behind early through Saints teenager Tyler Dibling, the Blues may have felt hard done by to be trailing at half-time having controlled large parts of the first half.

It was a different story after the break, and although Town struck late, Morsy knows there are areas where improvements need to be made.

The 33-year-old said: “We can improve on a lot of things. We’re nowhere near where we’re going to get to, we know that there’s loads of things to work on. But one thing which has stuck with us is the resilience, the team spirit and going to the end.

“It takes time for players to come in, integrate themselves and get up to speed with the rhythm and how we play. It will take a good amount of time with the training we do have, which is positive. We’ll keep chipping away.

“Two away games, two away games, two points and we’re unbeaten. We’ve got a home game coming up now to look forward to and we’ll take each game as it comes.

“The team we are now we probably won’t be in November, but we’ve just got to keep picking up points, keep improving and keep working.”

Matches between Town and Southampton have had a recent history for late drama after Jeremy Sarmiento’s late winner over the Saints at Portman Road in April.

That attitude to push until the very end is something the Blues have made very successful last campaign, and Morsy agreed that it is going to be equally as important in the Premier League this season.

“They’re always great games,” he said. “I thought it was another good game with lots of chances. I thought we were the better team and thoroughly deserved the point, if not more.

“It was a difference maker last season. We won so many points from losing or drawing positions and it’s going to be important again. It’s not by luck, it’s us continuing to push on and we were the only team that was going to score late on.

“I thought we were the better team today and I thought we were the better team against Fulham as well. Obviously there are exceptional teams, I thought Brighton were exceptional and at a really high level.

“We’ve shown we can compete at this level.”

Morsy played alongside a new midfield partner for the first time at St Mary’s, as Jens Cajuste replaced Kalvin Phillips for his first league start for the club.

Town’s skipper says the Sweden international has settled into the club and also praised the impact of fellow midfielder Jack Taylor, who came off the bench.

“I thought he done really well,” Morsy said of Cajuste. “He’s come from a different country, a different league and he’s still adapting. But he’s a really good lad and he’s got some great attributes.

“We’ve got a really competitive midfield unit now, everyone offers something different. When Jack Taylor came on I thought he was brilliant – he changed the game for us, he was aggressive with tackles and forward passes.

“That’s what we need, Jens is a great player and Kalvin I thought was terrific last week. A really top performance from him and he’s getting better all the time with rhythm and playing football which is natural.

“We’re really good in that department, obviously Mass [Massimo Luongo] started the season really well as well.

“We’ve got all midfielders who are up to play and that’s what we’re going to need to push each other this season.”

On the 3,000 travelling supporters, Morsy added: “Incredible. They support us home and away, I’m sure it would have made their weekends.”