Parkes: Bristol Rovers must build on Plymouth performance

Tom Parkes is targeting an upturn in Bristol Rovers' fortunes after his first goal for the club at Plymouth on Tuesday night offered his winless side a platform to build on.

Central defender Parkes, 19, who arrived from Leicester on a permanent deal over the summer, pounced to drill home a powerful effort in the 69th minute to earn his side a share of the spoils at Home Park.

The draw and performance served to steady the ship following a disappointing defeat at Gillingham on Saturday and now Parkes says Rovers must build on what was an encouraging second-half display when Fleetwood arrive in Bristol this weekend.

"I enjoyed scoring that goal," said Parkes. "I struck it sweetly and it was all the more pleasing as it proved to be the equalising goal for us.

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"It was certainly a good point to pick up after the disappointment of losing heavily at Gillingham on Saturday.

"We've definitely made some progress with that performance. We weren't fully on our game in the first-half, but after the break we improved and were a lot better.

"We created a lot of chances and probably deserved more than the draw we got. We showed a bit of character to come back from a goal down, so we would have been devastated to come away without a point for our efforts.

"It is important that we build on it now and it would be great if we could get a couple of goals and our first win of the season in front of our own fans when we play Fleetwood."

McGhee, meanwhile, was pleased with the way his team responded after making a number of changes to his starting line-up at Home Park.

"I needed to change things around because of the injury to Matt Harrold and because of the way it had been going in general," McGhee said.

"We had to do something to make ourselves a bit more difficult to beat. I thought we did that and I was particularly pleased with how Garry Kenneth played in what was his first proper game for us.

"He's the type of player we've really missed back there and now we're looking forward to him developing a partnership with Tom Parkes.

"He'll still need ten or 15 games to get up to speed, but is someone who will make a very big contribution for us."

McGhee and assistant Shaun North, meanwhile, were yesterday at separate reserve games watching potential loan targets.

The manager is hopeful of signing a striker on a short-term basis before Saturday's clash with Fleetwood.