JED Wallace said it took him just 15 minutes of the first training session with Troy Parrott to recognise the attacker’s talent and football intelligence.
Parrott, 18, made the first league start of his career in Millwall’s 1-1 draw against Reading on Wednesday, when Wallace scored the opener from a free-kick.
Parrott boosted Millwall’s attacking options with a number of players out injured.
“I always put loads of pressure on myself, probably too much, to be honest,” Wallace said. “You can’t get away from the fact that we’ve got Connor [Mahoney], Benno [Mason Bennett], Ken [Zohore] – who’s going to be massive for us – Bradders [Tom Bradhaw] out injured. That’s four out of our six or seven attackers, so it is difficult.
“On the positive side I thought Troy was brilliant, you can see the quality he brings, the footballing brain he has – he’s only going to get better.
“He’s 18 and he’s playing that well already, on the back of being out for eight weeks. Troy was someone that within the first 15 minutes of his first training session I knew the quality that he had, the intelligence he has.
“I’m looking forward to playing with him more.
“It’s credit to people like Thommo [Ben Thompson] and Willo [Shaun Williams] who have come in the last two games and they’ve been outstanding.
“That’s what we need, we need people coming in and playing well after having not been playing. This season everyone’s going to play because there are so many games. There are going to be injuries.
“I said it [before] that whichever team keeps their best players fit will be towards the top of the table. Hopefully we can do that.
“Even little things like Jon [Dadi Bodvarsson] coming on – it was difficult for him after he missed a big chance Saturday – but he came on for 20 minutes and was really positive. He set me up, I should have scored. He had a shot himself, I thought he played really well.
“That’s the sort of strength of character we need. Football’s not easy sometimes and I think sometimes people lose sight of that. When you go home after missing a big chance you run it over in your head for four or five days, but that’s the good thing about this season, with so many games we can’t rest on anything.
“Everyone’s spoken about the group we’ve got, the manager more than anyone else. People are going to be disappointed to not be playing every game.
“But there are so many games we need everyone. We’re finding it harder at the moment in terms of squad numbers, but if we can just hang in there in the top 10, 12 going into the new year and getting people back fit then we’ll hopefully be towards the play-offs.”
Image: Millwall FC