The bruised and battered Steve Morison was singled out for special praise by Paul Lambert. Picture: Paul Chesterton / Focus Images

Steve Morison warned the rest of the Premier League not to underestimate City’s muscular strike force after a battling opening day draw at Wigan.

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The bruised and battered Morison was singled out for special praise by Paul Lambert after defying a nasty early facial gash to help fashion an equaliser at the DW Stadium.

Morison was forced to depart the scene for running repairs after a clash of heads with Adrian Lopez before skipping past the Spaniard in first-half stoppage time to produce a cross, dropped by Ali Al Habsi into Wes Hoolahan’s path.

Morison is confident his frontline partnership with prolific skipper Grant Holt possesses plenty of brain to supplement the brawn.

“Yeah, it’s only the second time we have played together up front. I think we are more than a physical threat,” he said. “It’s good and if people just think me and him are going to be a physical presence and nothing else then that bodes well because we have got a lot more that than.

“It was good to get back out there. I really enjoyed the game – I would have loved to have scored, but disappointed we didn’t win the game. I thought I did alright. I worked the channels well, worked hard, ran at them when I could and I helped create the goal, so it was a pleasing afternoon. I was just disappointed not to get a clear chance to score a goal.”

Morison typified Norwich’s collective will to return south with something tangible for their hard graft after repelling a late Wigan onslaught.

“We are here to win games and to pick up points,” he said. “It shows we can compete in this league because we went down, but we came back and we didn’t lose the game and that is important because you don’t want to lose too many in this league.

“It was always going to be like that. I had to go off and we went one up front, which was a bit of a nightmare, but it was about seeing the game out, especially with them having the crowd behind them. Yes, it was backs-to-the-wall the last few minutes, but I didn’t think they created a real chance and we still looked like we could score.”

Young defender Ritchie De Laet produced a brave last-ditch block after a mix-up between Leon Barnett and John Ruddy in the closing seconds threatened to leave Norwich empty-handed. Morison was delighted for the young Belgian after his first-half error allowed Wigan to open the scoring from the penalty spot.

“He made two great blocks at the end and we are there at the other end to stick the ball in the back of the net,” said Morison. “It was disappointing his mistake led to the goal, but that is life. He picked himself up, went back out there and made two game-saving blocks at the end, so it was fantastic.”

Morison accepts life in the top flight is unlikely to get any easier, with Stoke set to provide stout opposition for Norwich’s homecoming this weekend. The Welsh international would not have it any other way.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “The family have moved up now so it’s all good – playing football and starting the first game in the Premier League so it can’t get much better.

“I think you know what you are going to get from Stoke and you don’t realise how good they are at what they do until you actually come up against them. They have some fantastic players and it is going to be a very tough test.”