LES PARRY believes the continuing commitment and enthusiasm of the players at Prenton Park is helping Tranmere’s caretaker management team buck a footballing trend.
Long-serving physio Parry and coaches Shaun Garnett and Wayne Allison move into their eighth week in charge of team affairs when Rovers play host to Aldershot Town in the FA Cup tomorrow.
That’s a long run for a temporary regime and Parry is encouraged to find performances are staying strong – even though results have not come easily for the team anchored at the foot of the League One table.
Most fans reckoned Tuesday’s 2-0 home win over Southend to be the best display of the season and another victory will take Rovers into the potentially lucrative third round.
Parry said: “It is generally recognised that caretaker managers sometimes have a job in maintaining the enthusiasm from the players because they are unsure of what is happening.
“Fortunately for Shaun, Wayne and myself, we had been able to keep the level of performance through most of the last seven weeks, which is quite unusual. That is particularly pleasing.”
Speculation over a long-term successor to John Barnes – sacked back on October 9 – has tailed off over recent weeks while Parry, Garnett and Allison continue their work in making the squad fitter and the team more resilient than in the early weeks of the season.
Parry said: “The lads have been performing well through most of our time in charge. There is no getting away from the fact that the way we want them to play is different from the way the previous manager wanted to play. The more we play that way the better we are going to get at it.
“I think one of the reasons the players quite enjoy what we are doing is that I’m a pretty simple, straightforward person. And if you keep things simple, they are generally effective. If a player knows his own responsibilities and knows what the responsibilities of other players are, I think you are halfway there.”
Parry will be looking for another high energy performance from his players tomorrow after they ran a strong and capable Southend side into the ground in midweek, to notch their fourth League One win of the season.
“I thought we ratted brilliantly on Tuesday and did not let the opposition settle,” Parry said. “We played our football in the final third of the field and that is where we encourage the lads to play all of their football.
“It is coming together but there are still things we have to work on.”
Aldershot Town arose from the ashes of the original club, which went out of business in 1992. Once reformed, the Shots climbed the rungs of the non-league ladder and rejoined League Two last season. They currently stand eighth in the table.
Parry is determined not to underestimate them. He explained: “We have been saying to the lads what a great success story Aldershot’s is. Anyone thinking Aldershot are coming here to be rolled over are in for a right shock. They are unbeaten in the last five games and stand eighth in their division, which means they are eight places behind us.
“Our chief scout Dave Philpotts says they are an excellent footballing side, one of the best in their division.”
Ian Goodison is Tranmere’s most pressing injury doubt for tomorrow. The Jamaican centre-back battled with back problems through the first hour of the game against Southend and has been under treatment for the rest of the week.
If Goodison can’t play against Aldershot, Parry will have to start with teenager Ash Taylor alongside Marlon Broomes at the heart of the defence.
Full-back Shaleum Logan is under treatment for a groin strain while striker Michael Ricketts is also suffering from a back strain.
TRANMERE striker Kithson Bain has joined Blue Square Premier side Kettering Town on loan until early January.
