'He's only been available for five league games': Portsmouth boss relishing finally utilising talents of luckless ex-Bristol City and Luton man

Now free of injury, illness and the World Cup, however, the Blues head coach is banking on the 25-year-old finally demonstrating his ‘top’ midfield talents.

Morrell turned in an eye-catching man-of-the-match display against Ipswich in Thursday night’s 2-2 draw.

It represented only a fourth league start of the campaign – and 14th appearance overall this term – with availability hampered by a variety of issues.

Nonetheless, the Wales international is expected to retain his place in the midfield alongside Marlon Pack on New Year’s Day against Charlton (3pm).

And Cowley is relishing calling upon Morrell on a far more regular basis during the second half of the season.

Pompey’s boss told The News: ‘I thought Joe had a really good game, it was great to have him back.

‘He obviously picked up the injury with Wales in the summer and needed an operation, then getting to the operation took longer than we would have liked.

‘Whenever a player misses pre-season it does affect them, then he had the World Cup and came back with illness, which he and pretty much the rest of England have got at the moment. He had two bouts, bless him.

‘Since coming back, I would say Ipswich was the first game he could have started.

‘Joe’s a very important player for us, he played with industry, he intercepted passes, turned the ball over and used it really well, which he is very capable of doing.

‘He was really unlucky, his second-half shot would have put us 3-1 up, it was travelling towards goal and it was a very good block from Wes Burns.

‘When we look back, it has only been five league games he has actually been available this season. Injury, illness and the World Cup has interrupted his availability somewhat.

‘Like all players, they need rhythm and flow – and we just haven't been able to get that.

‘Hopefully now, with that behind us, he can really push on. We know he can be a top midfielder at this level.

‘Coming into January, I know everyone is keen on who we are going to bring him, but if you can get Joe, Tom Lowery and Louis Thompson back and then Joe Rafferty, then they will feel like new signings for us.’

The influential Morrell was taken off in the 73rd minute in the Ipswich draw, with Ryan Tunnicliffe brought on as a replacement.

The Blues were leading 2-1 at the time – but Cowley reveals he had no choice.

He added: ‘He was still coming back from illness, we had a lot of them that weren’t quite able to perform physically at a full capacity, not where they would have liked it to have been.

‘Sometimes you have to make subs that you don’t like, we didn’t want to take Joe off because he was playing really well.

‘But we have to remember that, when you have that background, the injury list becomes bigger when you take them beyond fatigue.’