TROY PARROTT’S COMEBACK from a lengthy hamstring injury will be briefly stalled as he is ineligible to face his parent club Tottenham in Preston’s FA Cup fourth round tie on Saturday. 

Parrott injured himself while celebrating the first league goal of his loan spell in October, forcing him to miss 14 games. His rehab included a brief return to Spurs, but he has now returned to Preston to finish out the season. He made his return to action this month, making appearances off the bench in each of Preston’s last two league games. 

The Irish striker will not be eligible to face Spurs tomorrow, however, as he is not permitted to play against the club from whom he is on loan. 

“It is a weird one”, said Parrott. “Obviously I’ve never been in this position before, so it is strange, but I am looking forward to watching the game and seeing how it will pan out.”

Parrott’s convalescence included a stint back at Spurs, where he spoke briefly with manager Antonio Conte. 

“Yeah, I spoke to him. It was only brief though. He asked me how the rehab and stuff was going, but it was nice to go back and see him, see the rest of the lads and be around them again.

“But I have enjoyed it here at Preston so far.

“The physios treated me really well and the players were all asking me every day how I was getting on, so I have enjoyed my time here. Hopefully I can give a little bit more back to the team in the second half of the season.”

Parrott believes he can make an impact in the Championship with Preston after League One loans with Ipswich and MK Dons.

“When I think back to it and the player I am now, maybe back then I wasn’t quite up to it or quite ready for the Championship,” Parrott said of his Millwall spell.

“Coming back this season, I’ve been here before, I’ve had two loans in the middle of that and felt more ready. I think that showed in the first nine to 10 games that I did play.

“Although the chances I was getting weren’t quite falling into the goal, I was taking a lot of encouragement from just getting the chances.

“Obviously then I got my goal against Norwich and got injured straight after which was frustrating, but what I feel now is I am more ready.”

With Parrott unable to feature this weekend, his next assignment will be Bristol City’s visit on 4 February, which is the day he celebrates his 21st birthday.

After a strong finish to last season helped fire MK Dons into the League One play-offs, the young forward hopes to achieve similar with Preston and will continue to take inspiration from Kane, who endured his own trials and tribulations on loan.

Parrott admitted: “I think that Harry [Kane] just shows it is possible. It doesn’t matter how many attempts it takes, if you keep knocking on the door and keeping doing what you have to there is a path there.

“I feel like obviously right now I am where I am because of my level, so I just need to keep getting better, keep doing more extras and ultimately become better every day.

“I will keep trying to improve and my end goal will always be to go back to Spurs and play there.”

 With reporting by Gavin Cooney