Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe hails Josh Onomah's performance and admits visit from his agent

Onomah came on from the bench in first half stoppage time as Alan Browne was forced off through injury. It allowed PNE’s no.17 to have his longest run out yet, just over two months since joining the club.

The former Fulham man agreed to terminate his contract at Craven Cottage which sealed a move to Deepdale but has had to build up his match fitness to stake a claim for a place in the starting XI.

With his captain’s injury, Onomah was given an extended chance to prove himself and did just that. The 45 minutes that the 25-year-old played will go a long way in setting him up for the rest of the season, with him yet to show his best in PR1.

“It's massive,” Lowe said. “I thought he was fantastic, by the way, when he came on. We were toying with him or Ben Woodburn and I just felt Josh had been due an opportunity and a chance. He's looked fitter in training, he's looked very, very lively.

"I said he'd probably get an opportunity over the Easter weekend and he's obviously taken it. I'm really pleased for him. He was massive for 45 minutes but the important thing now is for him to get rested and recovered and to do the right things over the weekend and he could find himself with an opportunity to play a few more games.

“He's got unbelievable talent. I sat with his agent on Thursday night, he came to the hotel and I had a cup of coffee with him, we were discussing Josh and where he's been. Unfortunately for Josh it was six weeks too late in terms of getting up to speed because it's taken that long. He knows that.

"But what he has done is his diet has been right, he's had food preps, his weight has gone down, his muscles have got bigger and he's got fitter on a daily basis. He knows that. It's just important for us to maintain that for him. When he comes in and performs like that he's worthy of it.”

Onomah signed a short term deal at PNE when he joined the club in January, meaning he will be out of contract in the summer. Although Lowe met with the midfielder’s agent in their hotel in London in the lead up to the QPR game, a new deal for Onomah was not on the agenda for the meeting.

Lowe is keen to see consistent performances from him between now and the end of the season and has no doubts over his ability in general.

He said: “He's just a friend of ours and he was round the corner. Most of the cockney agents will want to come and see you. Josh has got a fantastic future wherever that is but what we've got to do is make sure we can keep getting him up to speed, keep getting him games and keep getting him minutes.

"It's up to him, if he continues to perform like that - he's with us until the end of the season and then we'll take a view on it from there. There's no questioning his ability, you've seen the clips. It's about what he does for us now.”