Home
Darren Pratley’s impressive comeback against Norwich would have been cut shorter – if Phil Parkinson hadn’t ignored his requests to come off the pitch.
The Wanderers boss revealed his flagging skipper had been glancing towards the bench in the second half at Carrow Road, where he was making his first appearance since fracturing his leg on New Year’s Day.
“I was just having a laugh with him because after 70-75 minutes he was looking over at us on the bench and thinking ‘bring me off!’ I kept looking the other way and ignoring him,” he told The Bolton News.
“He is a supreme athlete, one of the best I’ve worked with. I haven’t come across many players with his athleticism and professionalism in this game, and once again we’ve asked him to play without a proper preserve game or much training and once again he was excellent.
“I think he got better as the game went on. When you haven’t played much 11 v 11 football the first 45 minutes can be about finding your feet. But he got better and stronger.”
Parkinson was also happy with Jon Flanagan, who came off the bench to make his first appearance since joining the club from Liverpool on loan.
“He’s played in the Premiership and for England, so it’s no surprise,” he said. “We’d moved Dorian to right-back and as much as he can do a job there we felt we needed a specialist because he was up against a couple of very good players.
“Jon came in and did great. It was a really important shift he put in and he’s a quality player.”
Source
The Wanderers boss revealed his flagging skipper had been glancing towards the bench in the second half at Carrow Road, where he was making his first appearance since fracturing his leg on New Year’s Day.
“I was just having a laugh with him because after 70-75 minutes he was looking over at us on the bench and thinking ‘bring me off!’ I kept looking the other way and ignoring him,” he told The Bolton News.
“He is a supreme athlete, one of the best I’ve worked with. I haven’t come across many players with his athleticism and professionalism in this game, and once again we’ve asked him to play without a proper preserve game or much training and once again he was excellent.
“I think he got better as the game went on. When you haven’t played much 11 v 11 football the first 45 minutes can be about finding your feet. But he got better and stronger.”
Parkinson was also happy with Jon Flanagan, who came off the bench to make his first appearance since joining the club from Liverpool on loan.
“He’s played in the Premiership and for England, so it’s no surprise,” he said. “We’d moved Dorian to right-back and as much as he can do a job there we felt we needed a specialist because he was up against a couple of very good players.
“Jon came in and did great. It was a really important shift he put in and he’s a quality player.”
Source