FORMER Hereford United winger Paul Parry seems to have firmly established himself in the Wales international set-up after two fine performances during the past week.

The ex-Bulls star was in the starting line-up against Norway and then capped a memorable few days when he scored the only goal of the game against Canada at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground on Sunday.

Parry's career has moved on so quickly that it is now almost hard to believe that less than five months ago he was still a Hereford player.

He earned his transfer to the Bluebirds with a string of excellent displays for the Bulls in the first half of the season. He netted his first and only hat-trick for the club in the 7-1 win at Forest Green before drawing a line under his Edgar Street career, at least for the time being, with the winning goal deep in injury time against Stevenage Borough on January 3.

The £75,000 invested by Cardiff City boss Lennie Lawrence in the Chepstow-born youngster was already looking to be money well spent when Parry turned in fine performances in his first few games at Ninian Park.

These displays, and a number of injuries to key players, brought promotion to the Wales squad and an impressive debut as a substitute against Scotland when he had a hand in two of the goals in a 4-0 win.

Then, last week, a first international start followed against Norway when Parry was denied a first international goal by a goal-line clearance by John-Arne Riise.

He had to wait only a matter of days, however, to get his name on the scoresheet for his country.

In the 20th minute against Canada, Newcastle's Craig Bellamy raced down the right before delivering a cross for Parry to thunder a powerful header from 12 yards out into the corner of the net.

Wales boss Mark Hughes' delight at Parry's performance seems to indicate many more caps are in the offing.

"I picked him because he doesn't give the ball away," said Hughes. "He's got real drive and I had to see him play once to know he deserved a chance at this level."