JONATHAN Grounds has been playing catch-up at Wanderers - but Steve Parkin reckons the Birmingham City loanee is now getting into gear.

It has been a tough introduction for the 30-year-old full-back, who has been plunged into first team action rather quicker than planned after Andy Taylor picked up a troublesome calf injury.

Forced to work with the Under-23s by Garry Monk at Birmingham over the summer as the club was forced to shed players to try and comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, Grounds struggled in his early games at Wanderers.

A more encouraging outing at Ipswich Town last weekend has given assistant boss Parkin reason to believe he is now rediscovering his match fitness.

“To be fair, we have to cut Groundsy a bit of slack,” he told The Bolton News. “It hasn’t been easy for him – he was training with the Under-23s at Birmingham, wasn’t playing any games and he hadn’t had a pre-season, as such.

“He has only really had the bit at the end with us.

“I think he has improved with each game and I was pleased with him at Ipswich. He’s had a good week in training so I’m looking forward to seeing him on Saturday."

Grounds' CV suggests he will improve. The defender has more than 200 Championship games under his belt with Birmingham, Middlesbrough and Norwich City and was a regular at St Andrew's up until last season.

“Without doubt, he’ll come good," Parkin said. "He’s good in the air, has good physicality, left foot, but I think we’ve just got to bring him on.

“It’s not easy for anyone who hasn’t had a pre-season to get just thrown into it as he has been - and that’s not making an excuse for him, he’s not on his own, there have been plenty of players like that. It takes a while to get up to speed.

“It isn’t ideal doing that in games rather than pre-season but I think he’s looking like he’s getting there now.”

Grounds was given a route into the team after Andy Taylor picked up a calf injury in the latter stages of the 2-2 draw with Preston North End.

Parkin feels it will be at least a fortnight until he is ready to challenge for a first team spot again but foresees no longer-term problems.

“His calf injury has been more ‘niggly’ for want of a better word," he said.

“He has got another couple of weeks to be back in training, really, it was more serious than we thought.

“He had a smile on his face this morning, which was the first time for about 10 days, so he must be doing alright."

Parkin admits Wanderers owe their fans one after some below-par displays on home soil.

"I understand that," he said. "We've not been entirely happy with the performances at home but we feel we've addressed it this week. Whatever team we put out, we need a performance."