SICK AS A PARROTT

AZ striker Troy admits he was devastated to miss World Cup qualifying start because of knee injury but is raring to go now

- BY MARK MCCADDEN

IT could hardly have come at a worse time for Troy Parrott - or his international manager.

The week that Heimir Hallgrimsson named his squad for last month's World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and Armenia, the Dubliner suffered a medial ligament injury in training with AZ Alkmaar.

Having scored 10 goals in his first seven games of the new campaign, he was all set to feature against Levski Sofia in Europe and NAC Breda in the Eredivisie, before taking that phenomenal form into the first international window of the season.

"It was hard," he admitted yesterday, reflecting on his misfortune. "It was hard, especially the form that I was in and the way I was playing as well."

As Hallgrimsson was naming his squad for Ireland's two World Cup qualifiers, the AZ physios were icing Parrott's knee and working to assess the nature of the injury.

But the 23-year-old knew even at that early stage that the news would be bad.

"I felt really confident coming in that I could really help the team," he said. "So to have that taken away was difficult."