JON Parkin is ready to make more FA Cup memories and is in no mood for this season to be his last in the competition.

The 35-year-old York City forward has played against the likes of a Liverpool team boasting Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, as well as a Chelsea side featuring Michael Ballack, John Terry and Frank Lampard in the world-famous competition.

Both games ended in 2-0 home defeats for Preston with Albert Riera and Fernando Torres on target for Liverpool and Nicolas Anelka and Daniel Sturridge the Liverpool marksmen.

Parkin has also netted nine times in the competition for five different team – Forest Green, Fleetwood, Preston, Hull and Macclesfield.

Should he make the scoresheet for City at Salford this weekend, meanwhile, the goal would be the 200th of Parkin’s career, but he has no intention of calling the curtain on FA Cup football after this campaign, adding with a wry smile: “I want to keep grinding the games out so, hopefully, it’s not my last season in the FA Cup although, if I carry on missing chances, it might have to be.”

Parkin’s best individual cup performance came in a 7-0 third round win for Preston against Colchester in January 2010 – a game that he nearly didn’t make, as he negotiated the same treacherous trip across the Pennines that made the Minstermen late for their clash at Premier League Stoke that season.

“I once scored a hat-trick for Preston after nearly missing the game,” Parkin recalled. “I got caught in the snow on the M62 and only made it to the ground at 1.55pm just before the team sheet went in.”

Appreciating the career highlights a Cup run can throw up, Parkin is also as keen as manager Gary Mills to go as far as possible in the tournament, saying: “It doesn’t make any difference to the league, which is the priority, but a cup run is always good, as you can get a bit of finance into the club and we’ve got to see how far we can get.

“If you get further, you can get a nice home tie or away to a big one and have a good day out for the club. I’ve played in the fourth round before, so I’ve not done too badly, but then some of those years will have started in the third round.

“It seems strange playing in the FA Cup this early, but that’s where we’re at, so we’ve got to put in a performance and make sure we’re in the hat for the next round. We’ll just be treating it as another game that we want to try and win though.

“We’ve got seven points out of nine from our last three matches and we’ve got to kick on.”

Parkin has netted three times this season – twice from the penalty spot – but feels that, had he and his team-mates taken full advantage of the opportunities that have come their way, the club would now be sitting third in the table instead of seventh.

Both Parkin and fellow forward Michael Rankine squandered excellent late chances in Tuesday night’s 1-1 home draw against lowly Gainsborough, with the former admitting: “I should have scored.

“I was just concentrating on getting a decent contact, but didn’t manage to put it in the corner enough, which was massively disappointing because, if I’d scored, that would have won us three points. The game was massively frustrating, as we did enough to win the game with the chances we created and it’s not the first time that’s happened this season, so we’ve got to start taking the opportunities we get.

“It’s our job to score goals, so we’ve got to start doing our jobs better because, with the chances we have missed, we could have another six points and would be two points off the top. I don’t think that’s being unrealistic and we’ve got to put games to bed.”

Parkin went on to reveal that his training schedule has been a bit lighter during a congested start to the season that has already seen 11 league games completed.

“I have easier days on a Monday and Thursday when it’s two days after a game and that means I feel alright and ready for match day,” he pointed out.