Town boss Kieran McKenna says there was never any doubt that Sam Morsy was going to continue as the Blues captain in the Premier League, even if he believes the Egypt international needs to work on his goal celebrations.

Morsy, who turned 33 earlier this month, netted his first Premier League goal in the dying moments at Southampton last week to seal Town’s third draw on the bounce.

In doing so, he became the fourth Blues player to score for the club in the top three divisions, following Ted Phillips, John Elsworthy and Jimmy Leadbetter from the team which won the Third Division South, Second and First Division titles under Sir Alf Ramsey. Morsy himself has now netted in the top four divisions over the course of his career.

“It was a nice way to finish a game and, of course, gives a better feeling to the training ground,” McKenna reflected on the last-gasp leveller at St Mary’s.
 
“But we don't swing too drastically one way or another in terms of our work here as to whether that goal goes in or not.

“And it's been really good to have the time [on the training ground]. I still feel that we are in the early stages with the squad. I have to say post the international break, last week was our first full week.

“Another week this week and bit by bit I think the understanding's improving at the training ground and, of course, we're trying to translate that into matches at the highest level that we could possibly be at.

“So that makes a big challenge, but I'm looking forward to seeing some good signs again this weekend.”

Regarding Morsy’s goal celebration, he laughed: “It's one of the shorter knee slides that I've seen, I have to say. I think there's a bit of work to do on the technique of the slide!
 
“But he's scored a few big goals for us, to be fair, and he's always come up with a slightly different celebration. Maybe he isn't a regular enough scorer yet to have a stock or a custom one. But if he can keep popping up with big goals then he can do whatever he wants.”

McKenna says there was never any question that Morsy would continue to skipper the Blues in the top flight.
 
“It was never in doubt in my mind that amongst all the decisions we had to make in the summer,” he said.

“I think Sam was always going to be the club captain this year and be an absolutely integral part of the football club as we move forward, and as we try and establish ourselves as a Premier League club and develop our culture with a new group of players and some new staff. He always going to be integral to that.
 
“Performance-wise, I think his performances were really strong last season in the Championship and that was maybe his first season that he'd been operating at the very top end of the Championship.

“I think he performed very well and more than deserved his chance to be a big part on the pitch this season as well. And he came back and he performed well in pre-season and he's performing well in the early games.
 
“He's still got improving to do, he's still got growth to make to be performing as well as he possibly can. And he's the mindset who will always be striving to get better. But it's really good to have him here still as an important player for us off the pitch and on the pitch.”

Photo: Reuters and Matchday Images

algarvefan added 18:07 - Sep 27 He's up there with the best for me, an amazing role model for younger players. Can see him managing one day.
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Facefacts added 18:10 - Sep 27 I hope he didn't injure his right knee when doing the slide. Best left to the youngsters.
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PhuketPete added 18:52 - Sep 27 I’m ok with anything he does to celebrate - except please don’t try to emulate Omari’s back flips
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Gforce added 19:09 - Sep 27 Best captain we've had since Matt Holland and certainly the most influential in a long long time.
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dusth added 21:39 - Sep 27 Agreed. Special man.
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BerkshireBlue78 added 04:53 - Sep 28 I'm really glad he still remains an integral part of the new look starting 11. His mentality is the core of the team and as captain, he symbolises everything we are about. Big heart, big determination.
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Karlosfandangal added 08:31 - Sep 28 He reminds me of Beattie when he scores…..he is one of the best Captains Town have had and there are one or two to compare him with
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