Phil Parkinson has hailed Rory McArdle for refusing to buckle after his nightmare opening against Coventry.

The City boss was full of praise for his side’s fighting spirit to claw their way back from a potential third straight home defeat.

And Parkinson felt McArdle typified that resolve after being caught out for both of Coventry’s early goals.

Fresh from a bench spell for Northern Ireland’s 1-0 loss to Turkey, the defender found himself at fault twice during the opening exchanges of the televised clash.

“Rory had a long week and after that first eight minutes he probably wished he’d stayed in Turkey,” said Parkinson.

“Especially in front of the TV cameras, you make a mistake as a player and I imagine your mind will inevitably drift to think about all the people watching.

“But I just felt that after that terrible start, Rory in particular really pulled his game together. That shows great character.”

Up to Sunday, McArdle had been in excellent form in a Bantams back four still missing the imposing presence of Andrew Davies.

He was struggling with a swollen heel after the Rotherham cup tie but City were forced to let him join up with the Northern Ireland squad for the friendly in Adana.

The Irish threatened to invoke the seven-day ruling if the club had pulled him out, which would have prevented McArdle from being able to feature against Coventry.

Parkinson said: “We had to get a flight for him over to Turkey, where he could be assessed by the Northern Ireland medical team over there. He didn’t train all week.

“We’ve been pretty honest in terms of releasing our players. All he really needed was a week’s rest and some work with our physio to allow the heel to calm down.

“The only positive was that (Northern Ireland boss) Michael O’Neill didn’t make him play when he wasn’t quite right.

“Then we couldn’t have had a worse start on Sunday. There was the lack of communication between Rory and Jon (McLaughlin) for the first goal and their lad showed exceptional pace to get past for the second.

“One of the reasons why I was keen to play Rory was that he’s got great mobility but Callum Wilson was just so quick. But I thought Rory came through really well after that.”