Heading into Tuesday's encounter at Oldham's newly-named SportsDirect.com Park, City have won three out of their last four matches, including the exciting derby victory over Leeds United and Saturday's triumph at Rochdale.
And while the Johnstone's Paint Trophy might not be viewed as the highest priority for some clubs in the Football League pyramid, Parkinson knows the value of the competition to City, especially with a trip to Wembley waiting for the grand finalists.
Parkinson said: "We want to keep standards high whether we are playing Leeds United in the Capital One Cup, Rochdale in the league or Oldham in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
"We have set high standards recently and we want to maintain them. Hopefully those same high standards will be enough to get us through against Oldham on Tuesday night.
"This is a competition where a lot of the games in the first few rounds can be quite low key but as you progress further and further, the excitement usually builds.
"You can never overlook the opportunity to play at Wembley. We were lucky enough to do it twice a couple of seasons ago and this competition for clubs at our level is realistically the best way of getting back there."
Parkinson says changes will be made for the tie to give some of the other members of his squad a chance to impress.
Gary Liddle won't feature at Oldham after City nursed him through Saturday's Rochdale fixture following a knock the midfielder picked up during the Leeds cup tie.
Matthew Dolan is set to deputise in Liddle's place, with the likes of Aaron Mclean and Mark Yeates possibly in line for starting berths as well.
French defender Christopher Routis could also be handed his debut for City after signing a one-year contract early last month.
Parkinson added: "We had a few players with knocks going into Saturday, in particular Gary Liddle, who perhaps shouldn't have made it.
"It was only on the coach over to Rochdale that we made the decision to play him, so he definitely won't be risked for Tuesday.
"There are a few players in the squad who deserve a start and who need the game to help with their match fitness.
"As we said a few weeks back, we want everyone in the squad to have received a good chunk of football under their belts during the busy start to the season we are currently experiencing.
"We want that to happen so that when the main chunk of the season rolls around, we have a squad that is sharp and ready to handle the rest of the campaign ahead."