Skipper Sam Morsy says Town have to learn to be more ruthless in order to see games out, the Blues having surrendered a one-goal lead during yesterday’s 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury following Cameron Burgess’s 75th-minute red card.
Town took the lead through James Norwood in the sixth minute and controlled the game thereafter, albeit without adding to their lead, before Burgess’s dismissal for a second bookable offence having lunged at home keeper Marko Marosi.
Sub Shaun Whalley lashed home the leveller on 84 to claim the draw, the fourth in Town’s last five matches on the road.
"Disappointing, needs to be better, the level’s not quite where it needs to be at the minute,” Morsy said.
"Showed great glimpses, we scored a great a goal, controlled the game in most parts but we need to be more ruthless, we need to get the second goal and we need to see games out.
"It’s a long way from where we need to be but that certainly won’t be for a lack or work, we’re working really hard.
"We know where we have to improve and it’s going to be a journey to try and get there and it’s going to be a daily task to work this season, in the summer, pre-season, next season to get to where we want to be because we do need more.”
Despite feeling Town weren’t at the level they need to be, the 30-year-old said he and his team-mates were comfortable for most of the match.
"Really comfortable,” he said. "It’s just that killer instinct to get the next goal and it is hard the way teams set up against us so deep, but you can’t be a football snob, teams have to do what they think best.
"They probably would have been happy at 1-0, strange as it sounds, but when you go down to 10 men, it’s a real leveller.
"The goal’s a worldie but we don’t want to be that team or that club that makes excuses because once you go down that route you go down a rabbit hole. We have to be fully accountable, we have to be better, we have to work harder and we need more.”"
Regarding Burgess’s dismissal for his second booking, he added: "I don’t think he touches the keeper, to be honest. But in football today any impression of aggression it’s a yellow card.”
The Blues being reduced to 10 men gave the home side a sniff that they could get something from the match.
"Of course, you’ve got nothing to lose when the team gets reduced to 10 men, there’s absolutely nothing to lose you just go for it, don’t you?” The Egyptian international continued.
"To be fair, even then I don’t think they created a chance, the lad scored a worldie, to be fair, it’s an unbelievable goal but still we can be better in the first phase and the second phase, so we’re not looking anywhere.”
He added: "I don’t think they had a shot on goal, but that’s the reputation we’ve built up. When people play Ipswich, they play two banks of four, they let us have possession, they let us do what we want with it and it’s up to us to be aggressive and ruthless to get the second goal, the third goal and that is a challenge and that is hard.
"It’s harder to do but it’s very rewarding and they’re the questions we have to find the answers for.”
Morsy has won promotion at previous clubs Wigan and Chesterfield, who would have faced having to answer those questions.
"I think at Wigan we got 99 points, something like that,” he recalled. "It starts with a good pre-season, a good start, momentum, confidence, when you’re winning every week, you’re up there, things just seem to drop for you, it’s just the way it goes in football, momentum is a very powerful thing, whether it’s with you or not with you.
"I think that’s only one loss in 13 now, so we’re not doing bad but for where we want to go, for the levels we want to strive for, for what the fans can see, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Town have four matches left this season and despite the play-offs now being out of reach barring miracles, Morsy believes the remaining fixtures are important.
"We’ve got really big games coming up,” he insisted. "We want to end the season well, we want to end the season with wins.
"The fans travel in their numbers, give incredible support, they deserve a little bit more than we’re giving them.
"We have been doing well but we want to give them more because we’re laying the platform for next season and when you’re at a club like this, moving in a direction, the management team have to be ruthless, so you’re always playing for your future, always.
"We have to be better, we have to be better. There’s so many encouraging signs, we’re so close but still so far away.”