North End boss hails hitman Parkin

North End had collected a solitary point from their three previous outings but in-form Parkin notched his fourth goal in as many appearances to secure his side's 14th home win of the campaign.Coventry led in the 17th minute when Stephen Wright's cross-shot was converted by Clinton Morrison but Preston deservedly equalised in the 38th minute when visiting defender Ben Turner headed into his own net.And they claimed victory with 18 minutes remaining when Parkin showed outstanding poise to capitalise on an awful clearance from Sky Blues goalkeeper Keiren Westwood and rifle home a fine left-footed finish.It was his 10th goal of the season and his ninth for Preston since joining the Lancashire outfit from Stoke last August."It was a good finish from Jon," said Irvine. "There was a lot of composure, he timed his run well and when he got through he sat the goalkeeper down and went round him."It was a terrific goal and we showed great character to come back and we've done that a lot of times this season."The lads' heads could have gone because we missed chances but they kept going and have done that many times this season."The result lifted Preston into sixth but Cardiff have four games in hand on Irvine's men and play Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Sunday."I think it will change every week - teams will move up and teams will move down," said Irvine."It's going to go right through to the end, I'm quite sure, but that's the nature of this division."The only negative for Irvine was an injury to midfielder Barry Nicholson, who sustained a rib injury after bravely blocking a shot from Turner and had to be replaced 10 minutes into the second half after lengthy treatment.He was taken straight to hospital and Irvine said: "I think he may have broken his ribs unfortunately."I have to say that it was a fantastic piece of defending from Barry and stopped a certain goal."Unfortunately he's paid the price for that and he's gone to hospital now. The feeling from the medical people is that he's probably broken his ribs."Coventry boss Chris Coleman admitted mistakes are costing his side dear after they slipped to their fourth straight defeat in all competitions.Coleman said: "We have lost four games on the trot and all have come from individual errors."We've got to cut that out because if you keep doing that then you're going to lose games and that's what has happened."In the first half we played some good stuff but in the second half Preston came on strong."I didn't think we were going to lose but again, from a kick by Westy (Westwood) we have gifted them another goal and it's disappointing."

Source: Team_Talk