PHIL Parkinson has warned the Valley Parade faithful: Don’t be fooled by Scunthorpe’s lowly league position.

City will look to make it six wins in seven – and three on the bounce in the league – tomorrow when they host the Iron.

Scunthorpe have just moved out of the bottom four for the first time since getting promoted and have lost only one of the 11 games they have played since Mark Robins succeeded Russ Wilcox at the helm.

They also boast considerable financial muscle and have splashed out over £650,000 this year on strikers Paddy Madden, Lyle Taylor and Billy Kee. Madden, who was thought to have been on Parkinson’s list, cost £300,000 from Yeovil in January.

Parkinson said: “Scunthorpe are one of the form teams in the league. We’ve got to make sure we keep our standards up.

“They’ve spent quite a bit of money if you look at the fact they paid six-figure sums on three strikers.

“They probably took a while to adapt to the division and unfortunately Russ, who had done so well for them, lost his job. But Mark has come in and galvanised them and we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Wilcox set a record for a manager’s first spell in charge when Scunthorpe went unbeaten for 28 games. But after steering them to runners-up spot in League Two, he was axed at the start of October.

Parkinson admitted the sacking was “harsh” and was not surprised to see Wilcox snapped up within a week by York.

He added: “I’m pleased Russ got back in but it looked a harsh call from the outside. He got a special award from the League Managers Association at the end of last season.

“It does take time when you come up. You sign new players and your existing ones are adapting to the level above.

“Obviously Mark has come in and done well but I should imagine Russ might be saying it probably would have happened anyway because the players they’ve brought in are decent.

“But managers are used to things like that. Mark’s moved on from jobs before when he’s probably been unfortunate so he’s taken the opportunity well.

“I think it was inevitable that Russ was going to be snapped up very quickly. He chose to take the York job but I think he’d have been one of the first names on the list for anywhere in that division that came up.”

After struggling to pick up points at Valley Parade, City have won the last two home games. With last week’s success at Chesterfield, Parkinson can see the confidence levels growing.

“The Chesterfield game was an important one because it set us up well going into this Christmas period. To come into this home game on the back of a win is tremendous.

“I sense the lads have got the feel-good factor about playing at home again.

“There was a period when results weren’t going our way. I don’t think too many performances were poor.

“But I feel the lads are really looking forward to this weekend.”

Parkinson may decide to bring back Billy Knott for Andy Halliday in central midfield. But he has confirmed that changes will be made over the hectic holiday spell.

He said: “We’ve got to get our team selection right. Going into this period, it would be unrealistic to expect to stay the same all the way through.

“I’m not concerned about that because I feel there are players not in the team who are ready, Hanson and Zoko in particular. They’ve had to wait patiently but that’s what competition does.

“You want the players to be disappointed if they are not in the team. But you look at the group we’ve got and I wouldn’t be worried about putting any of them in.

“They’ve all played this season and done well.

“Over this period, everyone’s going to be utilised so we’ve got to make sure they will be physically and mentally ready.

“We’ve probably got a strong core. We never wanted to work with too many players because you don’t need to.

“You can have too many disaffected people if they aren’t making the 18-man squad on a Saturday. Players can live with it if they’re involved.”