The former Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers man has joined PNE on a permanent basis

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom hopes Andrew Moran can go from strength to strength after his full debut for the club.

Following a bright 25 minutes in defeat at Coventry City, last Wednesday, the 22-year-old was handed a start at Norwich City. PNE fell to another loss but Moran was one of few to catch the eye, in his hour on the Carrow Road pitch.

Signed on transfer deadline day for a reported £1m, from Brighton, minutes had been in short supply for Moran. Prior to last week, he had played just three minutes off the bench against Portsmouth. Now, the manager wants to see him kick on.

“Yeah, I think you can see in the minutes he's been on the pitch what he is, what type of footballer he is,” said Heckingbottom. “He's got a good brain, which I like. So, some of his good bits... he was just dropping on the seconds if we did go up to Jebbo.

“And it's about making him effective in the game, so his best work will be higher up but we need the goals and assists from him. He can do it, we all know that. That's what we brought him in for, we need to push him on that.

“But he handles the ball great, his brain's good, he's willing to work for the team. He's been chomping at the bit really and deserved his start. Andy's not played for a while. He has trained a lot, he's a good, fit lad.

“But if I'm making changes it's going to be those (him and Jordan Thompson) and because we'd corrected the errors at half-time, we were on the front foot and playing well, we just made like-for-like changes with Alfie and Pottsy.”

Moran keen to make his mark

Speaking post-match, he aid: “I've always loved playing in the Championship. It's a really competitive league and every game is such a battle. I really enjoy it. Like you say, it's a good level to play at.

“I'll try (and be positive) but there's obviously all the other stuff you want. You won’t just stay in the team by doing that; you've got to do all the hard bits, the defensive bits. I'm just trying to do that and stay as consistent as I can.

“I've really enjoyed working with (Paul Heckingbottom so far), to be honest. He gives you great detail going into games. There's no grey areas, you know exactly your job. I've really enjoyed working with him so far.”

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