Town skipper Sam Morsy has warned that tomorrow night’s Portman Road opponents Fleetwood could carry a greater threat than their current league position might suggest.

Midfielder Morsy, 31, is as frustrated as anyone that the Blues surrendered five home points by losing to Lincoln and them being held by Cheltenham, and he wants to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

The Egyptian international said: “I think the league table is a little bit deceptive to be honest. They’re a good team, very hard to break down and they don’t lose that many games. High energy, well organised, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us.

“It’s another game where you could be fooled into thinking you could ease off a little bit but we’re preparing for it in such a way that we want to be at our very best on the night. It’s a big demand because we know we will have to be at our best to beat them, but we we’re relishing the opportunity.”

Asked what it was like to face opponents happy to sit back and soak up pressure, as both the Imps and Robins did to remarkably good effect, Morsy replied: “You have to do things a little bit differently but I feel teams have been doing that against us without having any real success.

“In the home games we have drawn and lost, we probably couldn’t have played much better than we did.

“I don’t think it was necessarily down to the way they sat in against us because we hit the woodwork on multiple occasions, their keepers made saves, a bit of poor finishing from us; it was down to a number of different things that we didn’t win the games.

“It wasn’t as if we failed to create chances in either game. Sometimes you have to be a bit more patient and take your time to wear them down and I believe we have the quality and the fitness levels to do that.”

Fleetwood’s visit, the third of four consecutive home games, sees Town return to League One duty after they defeated Buxton 4-0 to win a place in the third round of the FA Cup for the first time since being relegated from the Championship in 2019, while prior to that they were knocked out of the Papa Johns Trophy by Portsmouth.

Morsy added: “It’s great to be through to the third round of the FA Cup. We had two non-league clubs in the first two rounds, both potential banana skins, but we put in two good performances and scored lots of goals.

“It was a good opportunity for players to get minutes — and goals — and we’re all pleased to be in the third round.”

Coming out of the hat alongside Rotherham, the home tie expected to take place on Saturday 7th January, was something of an anti-climax as the Premier League teams entered the competition and many supporters were hoping for a trip to one of the real giants of the English game.

But Morsy said: “I didn’t see the draw live — someone sent me a message and it was also on our group chat — but I think it’s a good draw. Rotherham are obviously in the Championship, a level above us after going up last season, but we’re at home and I see it as a great opportunity for us to advance further. We’ll be doing our very best to get to the fourth round.”

Sunday’s comfortable win against National League North side Buxton saw striker Gassan Ahadme mark his first start for the club with a goal and Morsy was delighted to see the player, who was signed from Burton Albion at the end of the summer transfer window, break his duck.

The skipper added: “It was brilliant for Gassan. He got injured soon after he came in and he’s been working very hard. He’s very committed, a very nice young lad who is willing to learn and work really hard, so it was great for him to get his goal.

“I think you can see what he brings to the side; something different to any of the other players in the squad. He’s going to be a huge asset and the goal against Buxton will do his confidence a lot of good. Hopefully, he will go on to score many more for us.

“Strikers are wired a bit differently to the rest of us and they really depend on the goals, so it’s really good for him. He’s looked really good in training, he’s worked extremely hard to get himself into a position where he feels really good and, like I said, he’s something different. All our strikers offer something different, so I’m really pleased for him.”

It may have come as a shock to many fans that Morsy was included in the starting line-up for the games against Portsmouth and Buxton, but the number of injuries at the moment restricted Kieran McKenna’s ability to make as many changes as he might have done.

Morsy said: “It wasn’t a problem for me at all. I want to play and they were both enjoyable games that enable me to keep my rhythm going into tomorrow’s game against Fleetwood.”

Of course, such games also provide opportunities for players who have not been regular starters in league fixtures, and one player who has certainly grabbed his chance to impress is young midfielder Cameron Humphreys, who formed a central pairing with Morsy in both.

“Cam might not have been expecting as many minutes as he’s had this season,” said Morsy. “He played at Port Vale because I was suspended and probably thought that would be it for a while, but with the injuries we’ve had he has come in and done incredibly well.

“He’s handled the expectation and the pressure very well, and of course he has also played very well.

“He’s very level-headed and mature beyond his years, and he’s a really good young lad to have around. He takes advice well and has been performing like a mature player, rather than someone who is still a teenager and still learning.

“He can be very pleased with his performances and I’m thoroughly enjoying our partnership in midfield.

“We’re quite light in the middle of the park at the moment and we need all the bodies we can have back as soon as possible. It was unfortunate for Lee (Evans) to get injured and then, of course, for Dom [Ball] to come in and get an injury that is going to rule him out for the remainder of the season.

“Those who are on their way back to fitness, we naturally hope it’s not going to be too long until they are available again. The sooner the better, to be honest, because it will add to the competition for places.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Bazza8564 added 13:52 - Dec 2 There are no easy games, we've seen this season that very few teams come here with any degree of adventure, probably Bolton were the only ones in the first half who really wanted to play, we must be at our best, execute well in front of goal and be prepared that when we arent facing two banks pf four, it will be two banks of five.
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