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Phil Parkinson saluted a priceless away point at Norwich and admitted: “It wasn’t pretty.”
The Wanderers boss is not overly concerned with artistic style as he plots his way to Championship safety – and watched his side dig in for a resolute goalless draw at Carrow Road to preserve a four-point gap on the bottom three on Saturday.
The result ended a streak of six defeats in the Whites’ last seven away games and, says Parkinson, was a great way to end a week where his side’s survival instincts looked stronger than ever.
“We’re inching closer but for the group to get that point was so important,” he told The Bolton News.
“We’re fighting tooth and nail for our Championship survival. You saw it against Sunderland, you saw it at Norwich.
“I know it isn’t the prettiest. But when we’re being asked questions were are coming up with answers, and that’s the way we’ll get safe.”
Parkinson gave on-loan West Ham defender Reece Burke the task of shackling Norwich’s nine-goal danger man James Maddison, playing him in an unaccustomed midfield role.
But while the youngster impressed, he is now a doubt for next weekend’s derby with Preston North End after picking up a late injury.
“Reece adapted really well,” he said. “Maddison is a very good player and people are talking about £20-30million for him. First half he did well but as Reece grew into the game and got better I was really pleased.
“Unfortunately right at the end of the game he’s twisted his ankle, so we’ll have to see how bad that damage is.”
Parkinson admits he was forced to think on his feet at half time after a late change to the home line-up.
“We’d worked before the game on Norwich playing 3-4-1-2 but then when we got the team-sheet and realised their left-sided centre-back had been injured, they changed it to a four,” he explained. We tried to stick to what we’d done and adapt but at half time I felt we had to move to 4-5-1 and we looked a lot better in that second period.
“We knew we had to be at our best to get that result.”
Source
The Wanderers boss is not overly concerned with artistic style as he plots his way to Championship safety – and watched his side dig in for a resolute goalless draw at Carrow Road to preserve a four-point gap on the bottom three on Saturday.
The result ended a streak of six defeats in the Whites’ last seven away games and, says Parkinson, was a great way to end a week where his side’s survival instincts looked stronger than ever.
“We’re inching closer but for the group to get that point was so important,” he told The Bolton News.
“We’re fighting tooth and nail for our Championship survival. You saw it against Sunderland, you saw it at Norwich.
“I know it isn’t the prettiest. But when we’re being asked questions were are coming up with answers, and that’s the way we’ll get safe.”
Parkinson gave on-loan West Ham defender Reece Burke the task of shackling Norwich’s nine-goal danger man James Maddison, playing him in an unaccustomed midfield role.
But while the youngster impressed, he is now a doubt for next weekend’s derby with Preston North End after picking up a late injury.
“Reece adapted really well,” he said. “Maddison is a very good player and people are talking about £20-30million for him. First half he did well but as Reece grew into the game and got better I was really pleased.
“Unfortunately right at the end of the game he’s twisted his ankle, so we’ll have to see how bad that damage is.”
Parkinson admits he was forced to think on his feet at half time after a late change to the home line-up.
“We’d worked before the game on Norwich playing 3-4-1-2 but then when we got the team-sheet and realised their left-sided centre-back had been injured, they changed it to a four,” he explained. We tried to stick to what we’d done and adapt but at half time I felt we had to move to 4-5-1 and we looked a lot better in that second period.
“We knew we had to be at our best to get that result.”
Source