PHIL Parkinson praised City’s squad power after they avoided any FA Cup slip-up against non-league Aldershot.

Greg Leigh, deputising for James Meredith, scored a wonderful opening goal in last night’s 2-0 replay win at Valley Parade.

Tony McMahon’s penalty made sure of a second-round home tie with Southern League minnows Chesham, the second lowest-ranked club left in the competition.

Parkinson was delighted with the efforts of Leigh and the other back-up players to clinch the win – as well as equalling the club record with a fifth clean sheet in a row.

The City boss said: “I’m so pleased that Nathan Clarke has got another game, Greg’s played, Chris Routis has got on the pitch. That’s what it’s all about.

“Young Luke James got on and I thought he was tremendous. He lifted us with his running power in behind (the defence).

“That’s so important for the morale of the squad that those who haven’t played much recently are all getting a bit of game time.

“It was a hard game and we were a little bit anxious first half. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes on the ball and it was almost as if we wanted it too much.

“But second half we played with a lot more calmness in our play and that was the difference. We settled down after the break.

“These games are difficult because the onus was on us. You could feel the crowd almost expected us to be 2-0 up in the first ten minutes.

“It’s never that easy but we got our rewards in the end and I thought second half we played really well.”

Defender Leigh took Billy Knott’s lofted long pass in his stride before clipping a shot over Aldershot keeper Phil Smith – a goal that wowed the TV audience watching on BT Sport.

Parkinson was thrilled with the finish and the build-up.

“It was a great pass from Knotty first off,” he added. “You could probably hear me shouting at him because there wasn’t so many people in the ground.

“I wanted him to get on the ball because working hard for Billy Knott is to keep showing for it because he can really make us tick. He’s got that forward incisive passing.

“It was a great first touch from Greg, really positive, and the second one was even better.

“He is a marauding left back with great dynamic pace and power – all the requirements of the modern-day full back.”

The latest shut-out means that City have now gone 488 minutes since Michael Jacobs last scored against them for Wigan.

Parkinson said: “I thought there was a bit of sloppiness on the ball in the first half. We were masters of our own downfall and Ben (Williams) had to make a couple of good saves.

“It was a tough hurdle to get over. Aldershot have almost been saving themselves for this and you could see in their demeanour when they came out on the pitch that they were really up for the game.”

The only downside from the night was James Hanson’s departure with a sprained ankle and City will monitor the striker today.

Parkinson said: “It doesn’t look too bad but that’s probably me being positive. We’ll have to wait and see how it reacts overnight.”