Sam Morsy, the captain of Ipswich Town, acknowledges his team’s “flat” performance against Norwich City but is optimistic that they will win at Portman Road.

Ipswich Town’s captain, Sam Morsy, acknowledged that his team’s performance was lackluster in their 1-0 loss to bitter rivals Norwich City, but he still thinks they will return “bigger and stronger” at Portman Road.

Marcelino Nunez’s free kick in the 39th minute proved to be the difference between the two Sky Bet Championship teams vying for promotion. It was a close match at Carrow Road, with the Suffolk team appearing below par for much of the morning session.

The Blues suffered a devastating setback that ended their three-game winning streak. They managed to create a few chances late in the game, but they were unable to test goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

With five games remaining after the 3pm kickoffs, Kieran McKenna’s team dropped to second place in the standings after suffering their sixth loss of the year. Leicester City defeated Birmingham City 2-1 at home thanks to a late goal, while Leeds United fell to play-off-chasing Coventry City by the same score, leaving the Blues with one point from each match.

“Yes, definitely, given the gravity of the game it’s our closest rivals, we understood how much this game meant to our fans so it’s bitterly sad,” Morsy responded when asked if the loss to sixth-place Norwich hurt a little bit more. It’s a loss of three points against a competitor.

“Although it’s rather disheartening, our ability to recover has been our greatest asset. We recovered from Preston with a string of victories, and we recovered from Cardiff with a few victories as well, so in the end, our resilience will determine our fate.”

The 32-year-old acknowledged that their performance was noticeably below average, but he believed there was not much separating the two.

“I felt like we were really flat, and as these kinds of games often are, it was pretty cagey for both teams. It wasn’t the kind of game you expect, and sometimes you don’t get many that good,” he remarked.

We needed to improve in many areas, yet we weren’t performing at our best different areas which was disappointing.

“We came on strong in the second half and had a couple good opportunities, but today wasn’t our day. We’ll be back, bigger and stronger.”

When asked what could be the cause of a lackluster performance, he said, “It can simply happen occasionally.”

“I’ve participated in major events where you might truly desire it. This matchup with your fiercest rivals, Norwich, is the one you would have preferred, but ultimately, neither team’s performance was equitable.