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Parry makes the Headlines
Paul Parry has again created some publicity for Hereford United after scoring his first goal for Wales yesterday at Wrexham against Canada.
This morning's Independent heads the Welsh win: Parry caps remarkable season with Wales winner.
Part of its report says:
Wales made it four games unbeaten since their defeat in the Euro 2004 play-offs thanks to Paul Parry's first-half header against Canada in Wrexham yesterday.
The Cardiff midfielder, who has made a dramatic rise from the Conference with Hereford this season, scored his first goal for his country in his third appearance.
It was Fletcher's astute chip down the right that paved the way for Parry's goal on 21 minutes. Bellamy got to the byline to collect the pass and chipped beyond the far post for Parry to head back across the stranded Pat Onstad in the Canada goal.
The Daily Telegraph headlined its report: Winner marks Parry's progress.
Part of its report says:
Paul Parry completed his remarkable progression from the non-League game to full international status with the winning goal in this lively friendly victory at Wrexham yesterday.
Just five months ago Parry, 23, was playing Conference football with Hereford United but, following his £75,000 move to Cardiff City, his continued improvement was punctuated by a powerful first-half headed goal that extended Wales's unbeaten run to four games since their disappointing exit from the European Championship play-offs.
Of Parry, making his third full appearance for Wales, Hughes said: "I picked him because he doesn't give the ball away. He's got real drive and I only had to see him play once to know he deserved a chance at this level."
The goal came in the 21st minute when Carl Fletcher fed Craig Bellamy and his cut-back allowed Parry the freedom to send a bullet header past Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad.
The Western Mail had the following headline:Parry goes the full Mountie.
And its report included:
ANOTHER friendly win for Mark Hughes' Wales side in 2004 . . . and predictably the decisive goal scored by a Cardiff City player.
This time, however, it wasn't Robert Earnshaw, but his unsung Ninian Park team-mate Paul Parry who grabbed the Racecourse winner against Canada.
Parry's 21st-minute header crowned off a golden five-month period which has seen him go from Conference football, to Division One with the Bluebirds, to a shock Wales debut as a substitute against Scotland, to his first international start in Norway last Thursday.
Yesterday, it was his first Wales goal, a bullet header from Craig Bellamy's right-wing cross that capped a fairytale rise from the bottom to the top which the player himself is still struggling to come to terms with.
Six months ago Parry was one of 74,000 Welsh fans who paid to watch the Euro 2004 horror show against Russia at the Millennium Stadium.
He will go off on his summer break today with his name written in the record books as the man who scored the goal which supplied Wales' first win in Wrexham since 1987, when Mike England's side blitzed Finland 4-0 in a European Championship qualifier.
Wales duly took the lead in the 21st minute, Bellamy racing clear down the right and putting over a pinpoint cross into the path of the onrushing Parry.
The Cardiff man wasn't going to miss his big opportunity, bulleting his header beyond Pat Onstad and high into the Canada net to put Wales in front.
What a magnificent moment to cap off a wonderful season for the youngster plucked from Conference side Hereford by Bluebirds boss Lennie Lawrence just a few months ago.