Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy admitted that his side have to feel the pain from their 2-1 defeat to Southampton at Portman Road.

The Blues fell behind against the run of play in the first half, but Liam Delap’s equaliser got them going again. They were unfortunate to be level at the half-time interval, and while the tempo tailed off after the restart, they still had chances to win the game.

In the end, Paul Onuachu’s late strike saw the Saints take all three points, leaving Ipswich stunned and dejected.

“We really wanted the win, we went for the win,” Morsy said after the match. “We had a lot of good chances and we took the game to them.

“Unfortunately, it was a sucker punch at the end.

“The first half was really good, exactly where we wanted the game to be. The second half was more even, but we had a lot of good opportunities to create chances. We couldn’t quite get that goal.

“When a game is 1-1 at this level, there’s always quality and you can get punished.

The skipper was keen to stress that his side need to improve (Image: Ross Halls) “It’s really fine margins. That’s something that we all have to take responsibility and ownership of. Each and every one of us has to improve, individually and as a team.”

Asked about the mood in the dressing room after the match, Morsy answered: “Bitterly disappointed, but you want it to be after that. You want to feel the emotions and feel the hurt.

“We know our fans have backed us incredibly over the years and they will continue to back us. We’re disappointed for them today as well, disappointed for all of us, but we won’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“We’ll work even harder, and like I said, each individual has to take ownership and everyone has to keep improving. If we do that, come together and stay together, we’ll be a better team because of it.”

Of course, Southampton’s position in the Premier League table does come into consideration. The Saints had just one win to their name all season before visiting Portman Road, losing all six of their games under new boss Ivan Juric.

Morsy acknowledged the ‘must-win’ tagline that the match had, but explained that it doesn’t impact Ipswich’s mentality.

“Every game is an opportunity to win,” he explained. “You never know where you’re going to get your points from.

“Nobody thought our first win would have been Tottenham or our first home win would have been Chelsea. You don’t know where you’re going to get your points from, that’s for sure.

The Blues have won just three of their 24 Premier League games this season (Image: Ross Halls) “There’s lots and lots of football to be played, and there’s lots of time for us to get better and put points on the board.

“We keep going. You see how hard everyone works day-to-day, but for sure, we have to be better and take on the challenge. We have to take ownership of it, look the challenge in the face and keep improving.”

In a way, this felt like the story of Ipswich’s season. The performance, for most of the match, was really positive. In the end, two moments cost them. They didn’t take their chances but Southampton did, which was the difference. Morsy had a slightly different view.

“I probably wouldn’t say that, I’d just say that it’s disappointing not to win,” he argued. “We tried to win, we’ve come close, but there are going to be close games where we win this season, for sure.

“We’re just going to keep working, we’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves and we’re definitely not going to give ourselves that victim mentality.

“We just have to get better, that’s the only thing we can.”