Parry: “Come the season we’ll be firing on all cylinders”
By Matt Johnson
Paul Parry was disappointed to lose on his first outing for Town at the Greenhous Meadow but insisted the key was a good workout and playing practice ready for the League One season ahead.
Birmingham City were the visitors for the pre-season fixture and walked away with a hard-fought 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Mitchel Hancox and Nikola Zigic despite Marvin Morgan’s early header.
“It’s not nice to lose any game, whatever the level,” said Parry. “You always want to win, whether it be a friendly or a league match, but the game was a good workout and we showed certain positive signs and I’m sure it’ll only get better.
“They’re a good Championship team. They pass the ball around well, so it was a good workout for the lads. I thought at times that we showed them a little bit too much respect and gave them a bit too much time on the ball, but it’s only our second pre-season game and we’re still working on things, so I’m sure come the start of the season we’ll be firing on all cylinders.”
It was Parry’s delicate cross on 17 minutes that provided the assist for Morgan’s goal and the winger was happy to make an impact as he added another sizeable amount of playing practice to his preparations for the new campaign.
“It was a good start [to the match]. I think a shot took a bit of a ricochet and I just chased it down to the by-line and clipped it back and Marvs was on the end of it. He’s a big lad and I know that if I put enough balls in the box for him then I’m sure he’ll score plenty of goals this year.
“It was a good 70-75 minutes for me and I got 45 minutes the other night [at Evesham] so I’m building my game-play up and we’ve got three or four more games left now before the first game of the season, so there’s still plenty to work on and get more match fitness under my belt.”
The friendly tie represented Parry’s Greenhous Meadow debut, and the former-Preston ace revealed his impression of the experience and the club set-up as a whole.
“It’s a nice ground to play in and it’s a good bunch a fans to play in front of. They made plenty of noise and it’s just a shame about the result, but its pre-season and it was all about the workout.
“I’ve been impressed definitely. Before I came up and signed here I had a look around and obviously it’s a new stadium and what have you so I could see that it was a club going in the right direction and I think things are looking positive.”