Home
Phil Parkinson has said he won’t rush Saturday’s point-saver Filipe Morais into playing 90 minutes.
The winger came off the bench during the second half at Millwall to score a sensational free kick, getting Wanderers off the mark in this season’s Championship.
Morais missed the whole of the summer with a knee problem – and it is understood he tweaked the joint again at The Den making a late block in the 1-1 draw.
Whether that affects his chances of making the squad travelling to Birmingham City tomorrow night is unclear but Parkinson admits he may have to be careful managing the popular wide man’s return.
“It is difficult because obviously Fil is eager to play but he’s had no pre-season at all,” he told The Bolton News.
“We had in our minds we were going to put him on in the second half – and that’s no disrespect to Mark Little – it’s just we’re trying to get him fit in the first team.
“Anyone who tracked the progress of our pre-season will know he came in with an injury.
“If we put him in from the start and he gets hurt again because he isn’t ready then we’re back to square one.
“We’ll look at him again, assess when we think is right to put him into a game for 60 minutes.”
There was no doubting the quality of Morais’s 62nd minute free-kick, however, which left Millwall keeper Jordan Archer rooted to the spot.
“It was a great goal,” Parkinson said. “We needed to find a quality moment in the game from somewhere and Fil is capable of providing that sort of thing.”
Wanderers fought hard to protect their first point of the season, with Mark Beevers making two goal-line clearances in the second half.
“It’s important we got something,” Parkinson said. “We can reflect on three games in six days and though we know what happened against Leeds we reacted well, then went to Crewe and won, and a point at Millwall. It’s a decent first week.
“Everyone knows Millwall is a difficult place to play, especially with it being their first home game back in the Championship. But we stood strong as a group.”
Source
The winger came off the bench during the second half at Millwall to score a sensational free kick, getting Wanderers off the mark in this season’s Championship.
Morais missed the whole of the summer with a knee problem – and it is understood he tweaked the joint again at The Den making a late block in the 1-1 draw.
Whether that affects his chances of making the squad travelling to Birmingham City tomorrow night is unclear but Parkinson admits he may have to be careful managing the popular wide man’s return.
“It is difficult because obviously Fil is eager to play but he’s had no pre-season at all,” he told The Bolton News.
“We had in our minds we were going to put him on in the second half – and that’s no disrespect to Mark Little – it’s just we’re trying to get him fit in the first team.
“Anyone who tracked the progress of our pre-season will know he came in with an injury.
“If we put him in from the start and he gets hurt again because he isn’t ready then we’re back to square one.
“We’ll look at him again, assess when we think is right to put him into a game for 60 minutes.”
There was no doubting the quality of Morais’s 62nd minute free-kick, however, which left Millwall keeper Jordan Archer rooted to the spot.
“It was a great goal,” Parkinson said. “We needed to find a quality moment in the game from somewhere and Fil is capable of providing that sort of thing.”
Wanderers fought hard to protect their first point of the season, with Mark Beevers making two goal-line clearances in the second half.
“It’s important we got something,” Parkinson said. “We can reflect on three games in six days and though we know what happened against Leeds we reacted well, then went to Crewe and won, and a point at Millwall. It’s a decent first week.
“Everyone knows Millwall is a difficult place to play, especially with it being their first home game back in the Championship. But we stood strong as a group.”
Source
