PHIL Parkinson wasn’t too despondent about Wanderers’ late friendly defeat against Premiership Burnley.

Josh Ginnelly netted a last-minute winner for Sean Dyche’s Clarets to take the shine off what had been a workmanlike performance from the Whites.

Earlier, Andre Gray had opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Jay Spearing arrowed a brilliant equaliser just after half time.

Wanderers gave as good as they got and Parkinson reckons he learned a lot about his side’s defensive capabilities before a raft of late changes upset the balance of the team.

“It was disappointing to concede but we had made about nine changes at the time which had disrupted the back four,” he said. “We were in a good position to see out the game.

“We’d set ourselves up to be disciplined and hard to break down and we wanted to see whether the lads could take on the responsibility of doing that against a Premiership side. I felt 99 per cent of the time we did that.

“I’m disappointed with the penalty because it wasn’t a challenge we needed to make. But aside from that we restricted a team with a lot of talent to very little and then grew into the game.

“That’s what you have to do against a side of that calibre, you have to be compact against the ball and I thought it was a very worthwhile exercise for myself and Steve (Parkin) to see the individuals who would take on the responsibility to do a job.

“Pre-season is about learning about your players, can they take things under instruction and I thought they did it well.”

The penalty was conceded by David Wheater, the centre-half looking to win a contract at the Macron just a couple of months after being released by the club.

But Parkinson gave him some grace, revealing the reasons behind his recent lack of match action.

“In fairness to Dave he missed Saturday because his young baby was ill and he’s played very little football,” he explained. “To put him up against Andre Gray, a £9million player and top scorer in the Championship last season when you are not up to speed was always going to be a big ask.

“He’s an experienced player and at his best he’d know to stay on his feet and usher the player away from goal.”