Les Parry hoping Ryan Brant can fire Tranmere Rovers up the table

Feb 1 2012 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

MANAGER Les Parry is hoping teenage striker Ryan Brant will prove himself a handful for League One defences over the coming month.

The 18-year-old striker joined Rovers on loan from Stoke City last weekend and made a brief but encouraging debut as a substitute in the Š1-1 draw with promotion chasers Huddersfield Town at Prenton Park.

Parry accepted ŠStoke's invitation to give Brunt some experience of first-team conditions at a time when his selection options are reduced by injuries to one specialist striker -- Mustafa Tiryaki.

Rovers were hoping to sign an experienced front man by the close of the January transfer window on Tuesday night but could not be sure of success in approaches to two Championship clubs.

Parry was encouraged by Brunt’s brief contribution against the Terriers. “Most people who have seen Ryan say he looks like a player,” Parry said.

“On Saturday when the first ball came up to him he held it up well, held off a defender and laid a pass off.

“Maybe he should have done better with a chance late on when the goalkeeper put his body in the way to block Ryan’s shot.

“I was pleased with his cameo performance. He’s still young and has a lot to learn but Stoke think a lot of him. He is six-foot-one and Šuses his size well. We did some finishing work on Friday and you could see he knows where the goal is and finishes with confidence. Hopefully he will be doing that for us over the next four weeks.”

ŠTranmere’s need to add more attacking options to the squad was made all the more pressing when Adam McGurk, the scorer of the goal against Huddersfield, limped away from Prenton Park on crutches. Parry fears McGurk could be out of action for a number of weeks with an ankle injury.

ŠTranmere kept up their season’s average of a goal a game against the second-place Terriers but left Parry reflecting on a familiar problem by failing to convert half a dozen clear cut chances.

ŠParry said: “We had enough chances to win a couple of games on Saturday and they should have been finished.

Š“The annoying thing is that with the chances we had on Saturday, we really needed to be testing the goalkeeper. Lee Clark (Huddersfield manager) could say Ian Bennett only had two decent saves to make in the game, and he would be right. That was down to us.

Š“But the lads worked their socks off. I don’t think Huddersfield will encounter many teams that make it as difficult for them to play as we did.”

ŠParry also saluted the contribution of Everton loanee James Wallace against Huddersfield. The 21-year-old midfielder picked up the man of the match award at the end of his first game in a Rovers shirt.

Parry said: "James is all-round game was excellent. He was brave, he was winning the ball, he was winning big headers, he was tackling. So was John Welsh and that was what we were able to build on."

Parry reported that long-term casualties Enoch Showunmi and Andy Robinson started running this week and Joss Labadie will be testing out a foot injury. However, right-back David Raven undergoes a double hernia operation this week and is likely to be out for six Što eight weeks.