Speaking to the LEP ahead of Saturday's clash with Charlton Athletic, the Scot admitted that he is still working on bringing in new faces ahead of the midnight deadline.

He said: "The transfer window seems to encourage everybody to work last minute - I'm certainly expecting to be working late on Monday evening."

Irvine revealed Callum Davidson is expected to return to the fold for the Charlton game after missing two games with a knee injury - but Chris Brown remains on the sidelines
added: "He's (Brown) coming on but he's still certainly not in contention for the game."

Irvine, who denied any interest linking him with Sunderland's Anthony Stokes, also spoke of how he thought his side had progressed since taking charge of his first game against the Addicks last season, which North End lost 2-0.

Irvine said: "I think everyone can see that we have made progress. It wasn't quickly and took us until January to see things dropping into place but we certainly had a good end to last season and we've taken that in to the start of this campaign.

"I still think there's a long, long way in order to get to where we need to be."