In his own words: Phil Parkinson post-Preston North End

Wanderers suffered a disappointing defeat to local-rivals Preston North End on Saturday after conceding a half-time lead.

The Whites started well with Mark Beevers poking home his first of the season after fellow defender Dorian Dervite's header as blocked.

However, it proved to be a second half to forget for Bolton as three Lilywhites goals after the break sealed all three points and local bragging rights for Alex Neil’s side.

And speaking after the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points…

 

Thoughts on the match…

We had some good moments in the first half, such as being a threat in terms of set-plays.  We got a goal and probably should’ve got another one.

In the second half they were better than us and sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and say you got beat by the better side.

They are a good team on the travels. They’ve haven’t been beaten in ten games on the road and you can see that.

They have real pace and quality on the break and we found it difficult to handle in that second period.

We just couldn’t get a hold of the game in the second 45 minutes.

 

On the second half turnaround…

Recently at home we’ve done well. We’re on a very good run and today we didn’t play as well as we could. But they played very well in the second half.

 

On scoring from a set-piece...

Last year, Beevers and Wheats were prolific for centre backs in those situations and we got one today and always helps us going forward for the last quarter of the season.

 

On new signing, Chinedu Obasi…

We haven’t been able to see a great deal of him in training.

He had the option to go back to Europe and he was happy to sign for us on a pay as you play deal. This gives us an option to look at him further. 

I felt he is quite the way off in terms of fitness wise and he’s got work to do in the Under-23s. He needs a couple games but hopefully he could be an asset for us.

He played for FC Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga, so he is a player who has performed at a good level.

 

Looking forward to Tuesday’s game versus Reading...

We’ve got to think long and hard about the team for Tuesday’s game, which we will do. We look forward to that game. When you’ve got beat, it is always good to have a game coming up quickly.

 

On the week ahead…

It’s another big week coming up for us. We’re looking forward to the next game and getting back out on the pitch already.

We weren’t at our best in that second period, but we will think long and hard about getting a freshness in the team but getting the balance right in the side as well. That is what our job is now is as a staff to do that.

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