Jake Wright told not to dwell on missed chance by Jon Parkin

Wright, 21, cut a disconsolate figure at the end of Saturday’s 1-1 home draw against Curzon Ashton after he headed over an inviting goal with a late chance to claim maximum points.

Earlier, Parkin had grabbed his 222nd career goal to level the scores but only after missing a simpler opportunity and the 36-year-old forward has advised Wright, who helped Harrogate Town secure promotion to the National League last term with six goals in 14 outings, not to get “downbeat” as he still waits to open his account five games into a second spell at Bootham Crescent.

“Wrighty knows he should have scored and he had his head down in the changing room afterwards, but I just said to him: ‘Mate, we’ve all missed them and it’s all about putting the next one in,’ Parkin reasoned.

“If you’re a striker and you get too down when you miss chances, you’ll be causing yourself more trouble than you need to. I’ve been where Wrighty is and, if I’d scored every chance I ever had, I would be sat on a beach in Barbados.

“You can’t score every time and that’s part and parcel of being a striker. When you miss one, you’ve got to put it out of your head, get back to training and put the next one in.

“Missing chances has never affected me. On Saturday, I had to score the header I had but, as soon as I missed it, I forgot about it and put the next chance in the bottom corner.

“I’ve always been the same, whether I’m scoring or not, because it’s best not to get too high or too low. That would be the main advice I would give to anybody – not just strikers - because, if you think you’ve made it in this game, you’re soon in trouble but, if you lose a game, there’s no point getting downbeat about it.

“There’s nothing you can do about it after 5pm anyway, so you’ve just got to put it right in the next game.”

Parkin also agreed with sacked manager Martin Gray’s parting comments about players needing to handle the expectations of the Bootham Crescent faithful better if they are aspiring to progress further in the game.

“Teams come here and just play with freedom, because they’re not expected to win,” Parkin pointed out. “That takes a bit of pressure off them and I thought Curzon’s players all looked comfortable on the ball on a decent pitch.

“I don’t know if some of our players are feeling pressure from being at York and playing in front of a crowd, but all our young lads want to go on and play in front of 15, 20 or 30,000 people and I’ve missed Wrighty’s chance in front of 30,000 before – many a time. I understand the crowd getting restless and, as players, you have to put that to the back of your mind.

“These experiences will stand the young players in good stead later in their careers hopefully, because there are times you will get battered and I’ve no idea how many times I have been. Preston paid £400,000 for me one season and I didn’t score until December.

“When that happens, you just have to stick to doing what you know you can do and keep getting in the right positions.”

Parkin is an ex-Hull City team-mate of the Minstermen’s new caretaker manager Sam Collins, with the pair playing together for the Tigers in the Championship during 2006/07 and the former confessed that both he and the team need to produce an improved performance at Brackley on Saturday following the draw with Curzon.

“It (Saturday) wasn’t pretty and there’s no point dressing it up any other way,” Parkin admitted. “I thought we got caught between when to play and when not to play and we know we’ve got to do better.

“We’ve got to start making better decisions and being braver on the ball. It was also one of my worst performances for a while.

“It was my first start of the season and I managed to get a goal, but I thought I should have scored three.”

Currently enjoying his 20th senior season, Parkin also stressed that he is keen to kick off as many matches as possible as he enters the twilight stage of his career.

“I felt alright (against Curzon) and the more games I play, the fitter I’ll get, but the goal came in the 76th minute and I was still on the pitch to score it, so that’s not too bad for an old man and I want to play every game because I’ve not got long left now,” Parkin smiled.

With a target of 250 goals in professional football to aim for, the Barnsley-born behemoth believes he could profit, meanwhile, from new team-mate Kallum Griffiths’ deliveries into the box.

“Kall put a brilliant ball in for my header and, if he can keep putting crosses in like that, hopefully we can all get on the end of them more often than not,” Parkin added.