Phil Parkinson is confident James Hanson can bounce straight back from his big miss at Morecambe.

The striker wasted a late chance to win it as City were held to a goalless draw at the Globe Arena yesterday despite dominating.

City, who would have gone fourth with a victory, bossed the second half in front of a massive travelling army. But Hanson scorned the best of several chances when he put a close-range header straight at goalkeeper Barry Roche.

Parkinson said: “That had to go in. You’ve got to score those chances and he knows that.

“But you look at Premier League strikers worth £50m and they miss chances.

“The next one’s got to go in but he’s got to keep working hard on the training ground. It doesn’t just happen, he’s got to keep practising.

“But as I’ve told James, he’ll always get chances and I’m sure the next one will go in.”

Parkinson was pleased with his side’s response to the 4-2 Valley Parade loss against Rochdale. He had changed the shape, bringing Ricky Ravenhill and Ritchie Jones back in midfield and moving Nathan Doyle to centre half.

He added: “We were solid and professional and the extra energy in midfield certainly helped us.

“I thought we played some really good stuff in their half. Ricky was excellent in the midfield and we passed it well on a very difficult surface.

“We went 4-4-2 for the last 20 minutes to try to win the game because I felt Morecambe were happy with a point. We did everything we could in terms of substitutions but we couldn’t get that goal.

“I felt we needed Nathan’s calmness at the back and the assurance he gives the team. On Saturday, I thought we were a bit rash in everything we did on the ball. We had a big following yesterday and Nathan gives us a cool head.

“He was disappointed with his performance against Rochdale, although I did make the excuse of his illness, which was a valid one. Nathan’s a very good player and he showed it again.

“We defended well and I felt comfortable. We should have won it but it gives us something to move forward with, which was important.” Garry Thompson missed a return to his old club with a knee injury. He had a scan on Monday and is expected to be out for another week to ten days.

James Meredith was also suffering with the bug that has swept the squad and had to be subbed at half-time.

Parkinson said: “He’d been feeling under the weather for a while and was sick before the game.

“James wanted to play but he was clearly a million miles away physically from where he should be and we had to take him off.”