PHIL Parkinson has voiced his frustration at Aaron Mclean's on-going absence from pre-season.

The striker has yet to appear in any of City's friendlies so far and again sat out the 4-0 win over Shelbourne that finished off their week in Ireland.

Mclean suffered a tight calf in training before the start of the warm-up games and his recovery continues to be slow. He will not be ready to feature at Farsley tomorrow.

Parkinson said: "It's taking longer to clear up than we first anticipated. It's frustrating for us all because we need to get him out there.

"But we've still got three weeks to go (before the first league game). There's nothing we can do about it. It is obviously frustrating but we've just got to get him right."

Having returned from the Dublin training camp, Parkinson today plans to sit down for further recruitment talks with joint-chairman Julian Rhodes.

Top of the agenda is likely to be the situation regarding the goalkeeping position and Jon McLaughlin. The future of Angelo Balanta and Nick Arnold, the two trialists who went away with the squad, will also be discussed.

McLaughlin hardly had a save to make as a strong City side crushed Saturday's hosts, who were mainly made up of youngsters and trialists.

Billy Clarke, playing off James Hanson in attack, scored twice after Alan Sheehan had netted the opener with a penalty. Raffaele De Vita fired the fourth in his quest to earn another contract.

Parkinson said: "I thought we played some good football. It took us a while to get the first goal but we always looked like we could score.

"A couple of lads who missed training during the week needed the game more than the others. But it was a good end to the trip.

"Billy Clarke scoring two is a big bonus for us. He is a very creative player but he's also got that ability, so I was pleased with him."

City predictably enjoyed long spells of pressure in the Shelbourne half but Parkinson also had praise for the discipline of Gary Liddle in anchoring the midfield.

He said: "I thought Gaz did a really good job in that holding role. He just goes about his job and does the simple things well.

"He's a good talker and knitted everything together. He fed the ball in to the likes of (Matty) Dolan, Billy Knott and Yeatesy (Mark Yeates) and had an excellent game."

Defender Andrew Davies insisted the week away remains a crucial part in building up for the new season.

"Ireland's always a good trip and it's one that we've all benefited from," he said.

"It's important to get all the lads together and spend some time getting to know the new boys."