Tottenham fans will be keeping a keen eye on the League One play-offs over the next five days with two of the club's players in action. Troy Parrott and MK Dons get things underway on Thursday evening when they travel to Wycombe Wanderers, before Jack Clarke takes to the field 24 hours later when Sunderland host Sheffield Wednesday.
In the case of Parrott and his loan club, MK Dons will be praying that they secure promotion to the Championship at Wembley having come so close to automatic promotion. With Wigan and Rotherham stumbling in the run-in, the Buckinghamshire club went into the final day of the season knowing they could seal a top-two finish providing that one of their rivals slipped up.
Doing their part of the job with a stunning 5-0 triumph over Plymouth Argyle, who they themselves needed a win to secure a play-off berth, Wigan and Rotherham denied them a fairytale finish after securing wins at Shrewsbury Town and Gillingham respectively. Clearly the third-best team in the division over the 46-game league season, things don't always go to plan for the highest finisher in the play-offs, however.
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Parrott and MK Dons will go into their semi-final tie against Wycombe in confident mood, though, with the young Tottenham striker playing a major part in their success this season. Scott Twine, who was recently awarded the League One Player of the Season gong, maybe the MK man who has grabbed all the headlines but Parrott has more than done his bit to get them challenging at the top after finishing 13th in 2020/21.
Parrott's MK Dons loan spell hasn't always been smooth sailing after going just over four months without a goal until he struck a double in their 3-1 win over Cheltenham Town at the start of March. While strikers are ultimately judged on goals, the 20-year-old has impressed in a number of different areas of his game across the season to improve as a player.
“Troy wants to score goals," said manager Liam Manning after Parrott recorded two assists at Sunderland In February, as reported by Pundit Arena. “He’s the same as every other striker, but he’s really matured and understands now. He knows there is an element of trust [now].
"The work he puts in and out of possession, and the work he puts in tracking back. He competes, and he showed some moments of real quality today to contribute to the goals. If he keeps doing that, he’ll score goals. I’ve got no worries about that.”
Not enjoying the best of loan spells at Millwall and Ipswich Town the previous campaign, Tottenham really couldn't have picked a better loan club for the Republic of Ireland striker this term. Playing 45 games in all competitions for MK Dons and registering nine goals and seven assists since August, Spurs have a big decision to make over their player ahead of next season.
The natural call will be for Parrott to take the next step in his development and play regularly in the Championship in 2022/23, with a loan back to MK Dons one they will certainly have to consider if they triumph at Wembley in the League One play-off final on Saturday, May 21. Parrott will return to Hotspur Way first, though, and he will be one of a number of youngsters Antonio Conte and his staff will take a closer look at over the course of pre-season, with minutes potentially coming his way in their summer friendlies.
Before all that happens Parrott faces the biggest week of his football career with MK Dons facing a play-off double-header against Wycombe. Twine may be the one the Chairboys want to keep a close eye on going on his goalscoring heroics but they will also have to watch Parrott very carefully in both legs.
Bouncing back from a difficult time with Millwall and Ipswich to help MK Dons in their Championship promotion push, Parrott will be intent on ending his time at the club by adding a promotion to his CV. His loan spell really couldn't have gone any better from a Tottenham perspective and all fans will now be waiting patiently to see what Fabio Paratici and Spurs have in store for him next season.
