Preston striker Troy Parrott is coming in for major criticism right now but he has received some praise from Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny.
It’s fair to say that Parrott is going through a very tough period right now.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker is on loan at Preston for the season and the hope was that he would shine in the Championship.
The 20-year-old impressed in the second half of last season with MK Dons and needed another crack at Championship action.
A previous loan spell with Millwall didn’t exactly go well, but Parrott is two years older now and was viewed as being more ready for the second tier.
Sadly, Parrott still hasn’t found the net in a league game for North End.
Despite starting every league game to date, Parrott just can’t seem to break his duck.
Great chances are going begging and the confidence appears to be draining out of him – especially with Preston fans getting on his back in recent games.
Even more frustrating for Parrott is that he has taken that form onto the international stage too.
Parrott led the line for Ireland in their 2-1 defeat at Scotland on Saturday evening and squandered the best chance of the game.
Played clean through on goal at 1-1, Parrott just had to slide the ball past Craig Gordon but scuffed his shot straight at the veteran goalkeeper.
Ireland went on to lose and Parrott has received plenty of stick for missing the big chance.
Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has now moved to defend Parrott, telling The Independent that he felt Parrott actually played well against Scotland.
Kenny has hailed Parrott’s all-round game and believes the goals will come eventually, attempting to keep his confidence high rather than see him dip further and further.
“I thought he linked the play quite well and worked extremely hard for the team and did a lot of good things in the game,” said Kenny. “Troy scored an excellent goal that was disallowed for offside. He knows, he’s disappointed, he knows he should have scored, the ’keeper saved it and he knows that was a chance. He is only 20 years of age and has scored four goals already for Ireland. He’s improving.”
“OK, he’s had a bit of a period where he’s not scoring at club level but I’m sure he’s capable of scoring more goals. With strikers they sometimes come in clusters and he’s obviously having a spell of not scoring over the last few weeks but he still played well and even though he didn’t score, he contributed to a lot of elements of the team,” he added.