Freddie Parker: The pressing forward leading Cray Valley's unlikely promotion bid.

Player Scout Report & Analysis

Hello everyone, happy New Year to you all. Thank you for returning and reading my thoughts on the Isthmian League's top players. Before that though, I hope you all enjoyed the festive break. It's a time for us all to relax, spend time with the family, and eat, drink and be merry. Hopefully, there will be no arguments, no fuss, just the awkward moment when you’re slinging those unwanted (and sometimes quite frankly bizarre) unopened gifts into the ‘car boot’ box seconds after your dotty aunt has gone home for another year.

Now, we’re all fortunate enough to have this time off over Christmas, but for the average footballer, it's probably the busiest time of the year. Normally away from their family with several games across the festive period. Non-league is no different, with players having 3 games over the Christmas week and a tough New Year's Day fixture as well. It’s not just the players that struggle though, I as a fan have also found it hard at times. I mean, trying to convince the missus that Chatham's derby vs Dartford on New Year's Day was a must-watch was pretty tricky. Needless to say, she didn’t come, preferring to sleep off the New Year party hangover at home. Happy to be shot of me for a couple of hours no doubt.

Anyway, enough of all that nonsense, on to the next player causing waves in the league. Today, I’d like to discuss Freddie Parker, the relentless pressing forward leading Cray Valley’s unlikely title challenge.

The Miller’s Number 9

What do I need to know?

PLAYER PROFILE

Name: Freddie Parker

Position: Striker

Age: 23 (March 23rd 2001)

Preferred foot: Right

Height: 187cm

A product of Millwall's youth setup, Parker left their under-18’s in 2019 on a free to Cray Wanderers (with a founding date of 1860 the club has a serious claim to be one of the world's oldest clubs), then a loan to the seaside with Whitstable Town before moving between clubs like Lewes, Barking and Sevenoaks.

Finally, the 23-year-old striker joined Cray Valley in July 2023, making 37 appearances and notching 16 goals on their way to promotion. At the time of writing (January 2nd, 2025) he has 13 goals in the league thus far. A good goal tally, enough to have him 6th in the scoring charts. This does include a very tidy hat trick in a 3-2 away win at Bognor Regis back in October. In all competitions though he has 16, with him netting 3 in the FA trophy.

He has mainly lined up as a lone striker, leading the line in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Other times he has operated in a pair, lining up as the deeper striker in a 3-5-2 formation. Whichever system he is asked to play, he is a dynamic, aggressive, pressing forward that leaves everything on the pitch. As I mentioned, his goal-scoring record is good but might not make him stand out much, but it's everything else he brings to the side. He is the definition of a defender's nightmare, harassing, haring and battering them from minute one. He also holds the ball up and links the play with his advancing teammates. The manager is setting them up to be aggressive, to challenge sides and battle. This is blended with sharp link-up and direct passing moves. He contributes to both aspects of their approach, meaning he is heavily involved throughout. Something the league's defenders will not be happy to hear.

What's the context?

With Cray Valley’s surprisingly high position in the table and (whisper it quietly) a potential title challenge, Parker’s fine form leading the line shouldn't go unnoticed. What makes this extra special and extra surprising is Steve McKimm’s men are newly promoted to the league. 2023-2024 saw them march to the Isthmian South East division title and automatic promotion, losing only 1 game along the way. Most of the players were asked to carry their form into step 3 of the English footballing period. After such a dominating year, confidence was high going into this season, but I think even the strongest of fans striding down to the Badgers Sports ground on that first game of the season could not have predicted their standing in the new year. At the time of writing, Cray Valley sit 3rd in the table, 3 points behind Dover in 1st, but with a crucial game in hand.

Physical

Parker is a versatile and multi-skilled forward. He’s big, standing at 6’2, with a broad muscular frame. He is a powerful runner, happy to compete physically with almost any defender. He’s fast. One of his strongest attributes (despite his size) is his speed. He is deceptively quick, especially off the line. His acceleration is essential for pressing, often surprising defenders who think they have more time than they do. His top speed is also good for his size, once he hits top speed he is more of a battering ram than an Olympic sprinter. He runs all game. Stamina is key for his position and playing style, luckily he has it in abundance. He continues to menace defenders long after everyone begins to tire, a clear example of this was his recent 95th-minute assist against Bowers and Pitsea. Pressing the defender solo back towards his own goal high up the pitch, he was able to rob his man and square for his teammate to tap the ball into an empty net. Securing a 2-0 win.

Although he is a mixture of pace and power, he prefers to battle and run through defenders rather than dribble in and out of them. This indicates a slightly limited agility but with his blend of other physical attributes, this never seems to have been much of a problem in the games I’ve watched him in.

Pressing & Attacking Movement

As mentioned, pressing and overwhelming opposition defenders is a big part of Parker’s game. Not only does this show his excellent physical attributes, but also a good ability to read the game and anticipate chances to exploit defensive weaknesses. At times, he has to lead the line by himself, meaning, he has to get through a great deal of running and engage defenders in various ways. He tends to wait for opportunities to single out one individual defender when they are isolated. Here we can look at some examples of this type of play.

1.

In this example, we can see Parker’s willingness to harass the opposition defender. This phase of play comes from a Cray Valley clearance, not a long ball. He makes several yards on the opposition defender (This game is against Enfield Town who were in the league above at the time). Eventually, he wins the ball off the defender and holds it up for onrushing teammates, resulting in a chance for Valley. This shows his willingness to engage in selfless running to give his team a chance to get out and reset after a period of intense pressure, allowing Cray Valley to gain good gound into the opposition half.

2.

Here, Parker is showing his skills in reading the game and his physical attributes to press and accelerate over the ground quickly. A slightly under-hit-back pass from the Ramsgate defender gives him a chance to press the keeper. Reacting before anyone else, he chases the ball and causes the keeper to have to make a decision.

Using his excellent acceleration and pace, he is able to meet the ball just before the onrushing keeper, making good use of his game awareness to read the keeper's indecisiveness. Showing good composure and balance, he can manipulate the ball at pace and move around the keeper with relative ease. Staying on his feet, he taps the ball into the empty net.

Hold up and Link-up play

In addition to his pressing and physical mobility, Parker is the key attacking focal point for Cray Valley. He can also play with his back to goal and isn’t just a runner in behind. His stocky, powerful frame allows him to physically battle with most defenders in the league. This is key when they are operating in a 4-3-3 setup, the wingers and advanced midfielder rely on being brought into play by him holding the ball up, giving them time to join the attack. His intelligent layoffs are also a key skill in his game, often spinning in behind to provide an option and continue the attack once he's laid the ball out wide. There was an excellent example of this in the Cray derby early on in the season, where he ended up getting on the scoresheet. Fortunately, I was able to see this live but unfortunately, no footage of it seems to exist. Luckily, there are plenty of other examples from this season that we can analyse below.

1.

After having the ball fired into him at pace, Parker cushions the ball off with the outside of his foot to the advancing midfielder. Before this, he pins and then pushes his defender away to gain a few yards of space. Rather than admiring his pass, he uses his agility and acceleration to spin outside his defender (who rushes to get back tight again) and provides an option for the 1-2. The midfielder plays a textbook through ball for Parker to then rush onto, beating the off-balanced defender, he meets the ball and has a 1-1 with the keeper.

Unfortunately in this case he screws his shot just wide of the post. It was a move all of his own creation though with the initial physical work against the defender and then good technical skills with the deftness of pass.

2.

Here we see some classic hold-up play against Dartford. Again, Parker is operating up front on his own and moves across to provide an option for his RB, B.Williams. Seeing a large amount of space has opened up for the pass into him, he gets in front of his man and holds him off with a strong left arm, pinning him back and keeping him from nicking in front and intercepting the clear pass. The RW, Ademiluyi, then recognises the chance for a layoff and drives inside ready for the pass rather than in behind his fullback.

This eventually leads to a 1v1 with Cray Valley’s RW facing the final CB. Unfortunately, it leads to nothing as he is unable to beat his man. In this image though, we can see Parker still holding off the CB, who's now completely unable to affect the play with the striker constantly being between him, the ball and his teammate.

3.

Here, we have almost a like-for-like play as the last example. We have a wide CB playing very high, he makes a strong pass through the lines into Parker’s feet. Again, we see him getting his arm across the CB and taking a wider stance to stop the CB from nipping in front and pinching the ball. He then plays a first-time ball around the corner into the advancing RM who has come in off the touchline in anticipation of Parker's layoff. Even in these few examples, we can see he has good chemistry with his teammates and they all have confidence in his hold-up play allowing them to anticipate opportunities for link-up.

Goal scoring

As I mentioned, his goal-scoring stats are very good, but he is not a goalscoring penalty box striker. His tally (at the time of writing) is 13, making him 6th in the goal-scoring charts. Despite a barren spell in the league between the 26th of October and the 14th of December (he returned with an emphatic hat trick against Wingate and Finchley) he is still comfortably double Cray Valley's next top scorer.

Like a lot of his general play, Parker’s best attribute in front of goal is his versatility. He has scored different types of goals this season (we’ll also analyse a brace he scored last year as well). Parker occasionally operates as part of a pair, and we've established he has the touch and awareness to operate as the deeper part of a pair and link-up play. More often than not though he is the most advanced player in the team and operates as the main attacking focal point. His powerful running style means he is just as adept at running in behind as he is dropping in, coupled with smart movements and acceleration he can be a constant menace running off the back of defenders. His strength and jumping allow him to compete in the air and his stamina allows him to get chances late into games when more space is available. Parker isn’t a cold-blooded clinical striker though, occasionally he will miss the target or snatch at chances. Despite this, he will continue to carve out chances due to his physical power and intensity.

Below we can look at some examples of his goal-scoring exploits.

1.

Here, we have an example of Parker making an intelligent darting run in behind the CB. His sharp acceleration and reaction speed over the 10 yards takes the CB off guard and he is slow to react. Parker times his run perfectly and his teammate duly obliges and slides a perfectly weighted through ball into the space behind the defence. The defence here is deep though, there isn't that much space for Parker to exploit. His pace over the first 10 yards is what allows him to get to the ball before the keeper has a chance to cut out the pass.

Parker runs onto the ball, beating the reacting defender and getting himself between the ball and the CB thus giving the CB no options. The keeper is slow to react and gives Parker a chance to get his shot away. In this instance, he shows good composure and he strikes the ball (whilst running at pace) with his weaker left foot into the bottom corner.

2.

Here, we can see again how Parker’s off-the-ball movements lead to a goal. Cray Valley played a long ball in behind the defence for Parker to use his pace to run onto, making a smart run off the back of one defender into the channel between them and the fullback. This stretches the play and the advancing Cray Valley midfielders rush to get up in support of the striker. This is often a tactic they use when they look to relieve pressure on themselves and Parker obliges with intelligent running. In this case, he takes the ball down with an excellent first touch and is through on goal.

Parker's dribbling after his first touch in this case, though, is poor. He fails to get the ball out of his feet, allowing the defenders to get back goalside and making the chance a lot harder than it could have been initially. Eventually, he chops inside onto his weaker left foot and unleashes a fierce drive with his laces. The ball flies past the flailing keeper and into the top corner for an emphatic finish.

3.

Although he is not your conventional penalty box striker, Parker is typically the most advanced player on the side. Even if he has been involved in the build-up, he does make sure he is in the box for the ‘classic goal-scoring opportunities’. In this case, he is making a follow-up near post run after playing the initial ball out wide to his teammate.

The cross though, is behind Parker who has to check his run. Positioning himself again between the ball and the defender, he holds off any attempts to intercept the ball. Using good agility and balance, he is able to spin on the spot and hit a clean first-time strike into the far corner. His awareness of the play around him is on display here again. Rather than controlling the ball and laying the ball off for a teammate, he is aware of the defensive side rushing to defend the near post initially leaving space across the goal for him to strike the ball first time.

Conclusion

Parker is a versatile, talented forward who leads the line very effectively. His range of skills allows him to operate in several different roles, allowing his team to operate in various styles. He can compete in most games as a ‘complete forward’. He can drop deep and work as a pair or lead the line solo and his physical attributes and intensity allow him to continuously spearhead attacks against aggressive, fast and physical opponents.

The 23-year-old forward shows great match awareness and mental attributes, bringing his teammates opportunities with excellent work rate, intense pressing and vision when linking play.

At 23, I still think he has room to develop, especially at a team with better resources and more time on the training pitch. Technically his first touch could be improved and his decision-making occasionally leads him to rush chances. Aside from that though, his versatility up front and ability to be present in nearly every minute of every game would be a huge asset to most clubs at this level and higher. With Cray Valley’s unlikely title challenge and almost guaranteed playoff place, Parker might be able to operate higher up the pyramid with his current side. If that doesn’t happen, I would strongly advise clubs in the National League South, to take a look at the Paper Millers classic number 9. I think he could compete at that level easily, potentially even National League if he develops well, either as a goalscorer or a facilitator for his teammates.