TWO-goal hero Sam Parkin is refusing to allow a section of critical supporters get to him and accepts it is part of a strikers' life.The Blues hit-man who has hit four goals in nine starts since his £550,000 move from Swindon but while he accepted the plaudits after his brace buried luckless Leeds, he knows he will soon knocked again.

By Derek Davis

TWO-goal hero Sam Parkin is refusing to allow a section of critical supporters get to him and accepts it is part of a strikers' life.

The Blues hit-man who has hit four goals in nine starts since his £550,000 move from Swindon but while he accepted the plaudits after his brace buried luckless Leeds, he knows he will soon knocked again.

Parkin has scored all his goals away from home and the Portman Road faithful have not seen the best of the clinical goal-getter yet.

The former Chelsea apprentice said: “If people want to get on my back that is up to them. All I need to do is convince the lads and they have confidence in me and the manager picks me every week.

“The stick doesn't help anyone. It doesn't do the team any good and it doesn't do me any good. I did my job against Leeds and scored two goals that won us the game. While I may be the hero for a day I will probably be seen as the idiot again next week because that is the world of a striker.

“All I can do is remain positive and keep going looking for goals.

“At Swindon I scored 18 of the 23 goals I got last season at home so it is just one of those things. It is going well for me on the road at the moment but hopefully I will soon start scoring at Portman Road.”

Parkin also welcomes boss Joe Royle's attempts to bring in another experienced striker.

Royle was turned down in a bid to sign Alan Lee from Cardiff last week, with another Bluebird Stuart Fleetwood a possible arrival.

Chelsea striker Carlton Cole has also been linked with town but that looks unlikely, while Charlton duo Jonatan Johansson and Jay Bothroyd were watched by Royle against Hartlepool last week and town are hoping to sign someone this week.

Parkin said: “We are a little bit short as a squad. We have missed Nicky for a while and I was out for a bit so it is no bad thing if he brings in another player.

“Hopefully I have done enough to play Tuesday night and we will see after that. It is up to me to stay in the side and if I can keep scoring goals I'm sure he will carry on playing me.”

Parkin is also confident that Dean Bowditch will soon turn the corner after he set up the first goal, although with Nicky Forster due back in full training this week and expected to return against his old club reading next month, time could be running out for the youngster.

Parkin said: “We weren't particularly great at Elland Road but we combined for the first goal. I went to go to the near post but then spun to the back stick and Deano could easily have gone for the near post but instead put it right on my head

“Dean is a phenomenal talent. Ever since I arrived here in the summer I have been impressed with his ability and I'm sure he will go on to have a great career.

“He has great ability and hopefully he will soon start scoring goals and put pressure on Nicky Forster when he comes back.”

Town had a third goal ruled out for a foul when Parkin was alleged to have pushed Paul Butler but the striker accepts that would have been too much.

He said: “I had a collision with one of the centre halves and he penalised me for pushing whereas nine time out of 10 nothing would have been given and I didn't think it was a foul.

“We were quite fortunate because Leeds had a number of chances but we took the couple we had and came away with a victory we probably didn't deserve.

“That is the way it goes. We have had a lot of the game but not converted that into goals in our past two matches and Norwich probably stole the result from us last week so I suppose it evens itself out over the season.

“We can go to Burnley with a bit more confidence than we were this time last week but if we can get something there it will have been a great week for us.”

Parkin's double has taken him to 77 goals in 151 matches for the Blues and Swindon, a ratio of better than one every other game.