Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy described last night’s 3-2 win against Southampton as ‘special’, with the result maintaining their place at the top of the Championship table.
Despite taking an early lead through Leif Davis’ powerful strike, two quickfire goals saw the Blues fall behind midway through the first half. Truthfully, they were somewhat fortunate to only trail by one going into the interval, and an injury to Kieffer Moore certainly didn’t help.
This team was never going to lie down and accept defeat, equalising with 68 minutes on the clock when substitute Nathan Broadhead curled a low shot into the bottom corner. It set up for a grandstand finale, with the pendulum swinging in Town’s favour as James Bree was sent off in the 85th minute.
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Jeremy Sarmiento was introduced shortly after, and he scored the goal that sealed the points in the seventh minute of stoppage time, flicking the ball into the bottom corner to make it 3-2.
“I think this one was a little bit special,” Morsy said after the game. “A last-minute winner, it was brilliant, to be fair.
“In the first half they were really good, credit to them. In the second half, we looked better, we looked stronger, better on the ball. It was really good.
“The team’s spirit, the character, it shone through. We got what we deserved in the end.”
Morsy played a big part in Davis’ opener, firing the ball over to the left flank for him to take aim. Ultimately, the strike itself took the spotlight in the moment, although the skipper was able to understand why.
“It was a brilliant finish, and he’s got that in his locker, to be fair,” he admitted. “He’s got an incredible amount of assists this season but that was a really good goal.
“They were really narrow. Every team, sometimes, their strengths become their weaknesses. They were overloading one side of the pitch, which was good for them because they had different patterns, good patterns of getting in.
“On Leif’s side, it was leaving him a little bit light, to be honest. After that goal, they didn’t seem to adjust either, so Leif was the out-ball and he had an unbelievable impact on the match.”
Ipswich ended up conceding just one minute later, and they fell behind in the 23rd minute as Che Adams and Adam Armstrong both found the back of the net. Their response was somewhat disappointing, and Morsy knew that they needed to get in at half time and figure out how to improve.
“It was poor from us, really," he improved. The [second] goal, we were just too open. From their point of view, they’ll see it as a brilliantly worked goal, but from our point of view, we were just far too open.
“Against a team like that with the calibre of players that they’ve got, you have to be more switched on, tighter and more compact. That was disappointing for us.
“The momentum swung again and they looked in control, so we got into half time at 2-1 down. But at this place, we knew that the longer it goes, we’re going to be in a very strong position. At this place, we come on really, really strong.
“The fans get right behind us, and that’s exactly what happened. We found our rhythm, we adjusted a few things tactically to nullify them a little bit, and again, Leif had a big say in the goals and the red card as well.”
Heads were never going to drop in the dressing room. This team are known for the points they've gained from losing positions, and there was a real sense of confidence that they could get back into the match.
The fans truly believed too, even though the first half was difficult, cheering the players as they walked in for their break.
“You’ve got 50 minutes to get back into the game," Morsy explained. "If we went 3-1 down, it would’ve been more difficult – not impossible, but more difficult. It was about being patient but correcting what we needed to correct.
“In the second half, I think we had more possession than them, we’ve had more chances than them, we were getting our connections going on.
“Sometimes, you have to respect that a team is going to play really well, and they did for a period of time. Then we came on strong and looked really fit. The subs came on and had a great impact.”
Broadhead scored first, but it was Sarmiento's stoppage-time strike that will live long in the memory of everyone in attendance at Portman Road. Morsy, who played a part in the build-up, stood in the middle of the pitch as the Ecuador international fired home, describing the moment as 'brilliant'.
“We had a minute left and we played a few balls around the back," he recalled. "[Harry] Clarkey’s passed it to me, then I saw Leif. Again, they’ve overloaded one side but they’ve kept Leif’s side quite light. With Leif’s quality, you can’t do that. I’ve managed to find him and he’s cut it back.
“Then Jeremy... Jez is quite chaotic, in a good way. Everything is chopping someone, a tackle where he’s lunging in. I think he’s tackled and then got back up to poke it in.
“It was just disbelief, really. Wow, what a win. It was nice, it was a great moment. You looked at the clock and it was 97, 98 minutes.
“It was a special moment. We’re going to need more of those, but we’ll enjoy the win tonight for sure.”
In the grand scheme of things, this is another three points, the same number that they took in their 6-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday and their 4-3 victory against rock-bottom Rotherham United, for example. The league table doesn't dictate much on a game-by-game basis.
But this one should give the players a real confidence boost, beating their promotion rivals and essentially knocking them out of the race for a top-two finish in emphatic fashion.
“They’re a really good team," Morsy stated. "There’s no easy fixture. You only have to look at Friday and the results, anybody can beat anybody, that’s a simple fact.
“They’re a really strong team, and when they get it going, they’re difficult for anybody and they can beat anybody in the league. They’ve got top players, they’re really well coached, they’ve got great patterns, they’ve got loads and loads of positives – but so have we.
“In a 98-minute game, we’re going to create a lot of chances, we’re going to stress them, we’re going to open them up a few times. Ali came close, he hit the post, and we had other chances and we finished strong.
“It’s nice just to beat a good team, but it’s only three points and we go again.”
Focus now turns to the next game, which is the East Anglian derby against Norwich City at Carrow Road.
Town have had a tough Easter weekend, although they've taken six points two games in the space of just 72 hours, and Morsy is confident that they can get ready to go again.
“We played two games in quick succession, loads of knocks, illness, whatever," he said. "We’ll have a day or two to rest, then we’ll prepare for the game, which is going to be a really good game, a really good occasion.
“Our fans will obviously travel in numbers, so it’s one to look forward to, really. We’ll embrace it, because we’ve worked hard to play these sorts of fixtures.
“We’ll go and we’ll give it our all.”
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