PHIL Parkinson has launched a strong defence of himself and his City team after a week of criticism.

Parkinson plans to step up his chase for another striker with the cash from Devante Cole’s sale.

But he has also backed the current squad after they came from behind with ten men to draw at Port Vale.

Loan signing Jamie Proctor scored on his debut in the fight-back which followed a red card for midfielder Lee Evans, who will miss the next three games.

Parkinson was unhappy at the level of flak after unconvincing home displays against Oldham and Bury, who both had men sent off before half-time.

But he felt his team’s response on Saturday should answer the doubters.

Parkinson said: “Sometimes when you’ve had a bad result like Tuesday (against Bury), you rip everything up. You go open, expansive and play players even when you don’t think the balance is right and you get beaten 5-0.

“Then you are in trouble as a manager. Fortunately I’ve got two great chairmen.

“Julian Rhodes texted me Tuesday night and said ‘we know we could have played better and are disappointed to go out the FA Cup but let’s look at the points return from the last so many games.’

“We need to take our chances but obviously there’s not a great deal wrong.

“We came up against two teams who’ve done exactly what we did when you go down to ten men, sat back in and made it difficult. It’s hard to break down because teams are well drilled and organised.

“When we’ve been up against that situation we’ve accepted the criticism. We should have scored four or five against Oldham, we should have scored four or five the other night.

“But we created a lot of chances (on Saturday); Port Vale created very little against us.

“It’s a valid point for me to make in defence of myself and all the players over the past two games.”

Fleetwood striker Proctor, who came the other way in Cole’s £75,000 move, started his one-month loan by heading in a cross from substitute Mark Marshall. It was only City’s second goal in five games this month.

Parkinson added: “We’re looking at things and hopefully we can improve that department of the team.

“Not only that but we also need to get more out of the ones we’ve got. We’ve got good players.

“I told the lads before the game that we’ve got to put ourselves under pressure to produce.

“We’re working hard and we want to keep that commitment but we also need to produce those moments. We did on Saturday and that’s what football is all about.

“When we don’t win, everyone analyses everything and looks at all my decisions.

“In my defence, the two subs I brought on the other night, Josh Morris and Steve Davies, both hit the woodwork.

“If one of those goes in, it’s a fantastic decision in terms of substitutions.

“In terms of the structure of the team, we’ve created a lot of chances. The problem we’ve had is not taking enough of them.

“We’ve got to be better at doing that with the players we’ve got. They are all capable but need to show that.

“Hopefully we can add one more player to improve that again.”

Parkinson was delighted with Proctor, who came straight in for the injured James Hanson.

“What a great debut,” said the City boss. “He held the ball up well, won everything in the air and it was a text-book centre forward’s goal.”