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McKenna: Skipper Morsy Itching to Get Back in the Action - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Kieran McKenna says skipper Sam Morsy is itching to get back in action ahead of Saturday’s trip to MK Dons having completed his four-match ban, while there are a few bumps and bruises following Tuesday night’s 1-0 win at Doncaster but nothing more serious.

"There are one or two little niggles and knocks as usual, what you get from a game but we’re hoping that everyone will be fit and available, we’ll just have to wait one more day,” McKenna said.

"The players who played the other night had a very light session today, so hopefully everyone can get through the last session tomorrow.”

Morsy was suspended by the FA following a clash with Accrington midfielder Ethan Hamilton but is able to return at Stadium MK having served his time on the sidelines.

"He’s itching to go,” McKenna said. "He’s been competing like a real warrior here for the last few weeks, to be fair, trying to get himself on the winning team in every small-sided game and everything that we do in training. He’s been finding different ways to compete, which he likes to do.

"He’s itching to get back in the action, back on the pitch and help the team, so it’ll be nice to have him available for Saturday.”

Asked whether he ever has to tell a player to slow down in training, McKenna said: "Not really, I’m a fan of training of how you play. I want training to be very competitive, I want them to tackle each other in training, I want it to be intense.

"Sam’s one who does that and really leads that for us. That’s an important part of how we work, is having that intensity in training.

"We’ve missed Sam for the games but he’s been a leader for us in the training sessions over that time, so that’s been useful.”

Town won three of the four games Egypt international Morsy missed and McKenna has strength in depth in the centre of midfield.

"We have good options there, which is why we enabled a couple of people to leave over January because we feel like we have good options in that area,” he said.

"Sam being back is a big bonus, disappointed to lose him for any game, to be honest, certainly not for four games, but we did miss him over that spell.

"Lee [Evans] being back is a big asset to us, a really important player, good experience and positional sense and know-how in the middle of the pitch for us.

"He’s still managing his little niggle [groin] a little bit so is still not quite 100 per cent so we’ll have to see if he’s going to be available to play every minute or not.

"And good options with Tyreeq [Bakinson] coming in, he’s getting better game by game, I’m enjoying seeing his development over the last few games.

"Idris [EL Mizouni] did well in his game against Sheffield Wednesday we felt with the performance and is more than capable of contributing.

"And, of course, we’ve got Tom Carroll, who has played in the Premier League, a high quality footballer.

"So we have different types, different options in midfield and obviously it’s my job to pick whichever two or three that we might go for in any given game.

"And I think the boys respect each other, they know each of them has different things to bring and whoever is selected for any given game, everyone will get behind them.”

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