Parrish’s pride at captaining Morecambe

Andy Parrish says captaining Morecambe was one of the proudest moments of his career.
Morecambe defender Andy Parrish. Picture: Matt RushtonMorecambe defender Andy Parrish. Picture: Matt Rushton
Morecambe defender Andy Parrish. Picture: Matt Rushton

The central defender took the armband for the first time in League 2 in the defeat at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday having previously led the side in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Fleetwood before going off injured.

Like the team as a whole, the 26-year-old has made an impressive start to the season with the Shrimps fifth ahead of Northampton’s visit to the Globe Arena on Saturday.

Parrish said: “It was a very proud moment in my career.

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“My family have been congratulating me and everybody’s been texting me and I’m really proud. It was fantastic.

“Personally I’m happy with the way things are going but it’s a team game.

“We’re doing well at home but away from home we can put in better performances and should have probably picked up a couple more points.

“We’re in a good position but we’re thinking as a squad well we could have picked up a point here or three there. 
“Overall we have had a good start but we’re looking to kick on too.”

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Part of Morecambe’s good start to the season has been down to competition for places with Parrish and Ryan Edwards picked ahead of skipper Mark Hughes at Wimbledon.

Parrish said: “That’s the way it’s got to be. 
“Hughesy is a good player and a good captain and I’ve played well with him as well.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen this weekend but it’s good to have that competition.

“It pushes players to train harder to try and keep their place.”

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Parrish may have relished his chance to captain the side at Kingsmeadow but it ended in the Shrimps’ second 1-0 defeat of the week having also been edged out at Mansfield.

It was a hard week for the defender, marking the Stags’ Matt Rhead before coming up against Wimbledon’s Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Parrish said: “Yeah they were very tough.

“They were different challenges, Akinfenwa’s very strong and likes to hold it up while Rhead is pretty mobile and likes to go in behind.

“I thought we did well, especially against Wimbledon, and played good football but we’ve got to take our chances.

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“They were two difficult away games and we’re looking to bounce back on Saturday.

“We did think we deserved a point at Wimbledon because we created chances but it wasn’t to be.”

This Saturday, Parrish is hoping Morecambe’s attack has similar success to Accrington’s after they won a remarkable game 5-4 at Sixfields in John Coleman’s first game back on Saturday.

The defender said: “What do you take from that?

“You look at it and you think well they’re scoring a lot of goals but they’re conceding as well.

“As long as we’re pretty solid at the back we’re hoping our lads can take advantage of the way they’ve been conceding recently.”