Preston North End head coach wants a longer look at trialist Jamie Thomas

The attacking midfielder played 73 minutes of PNE's 3-2 defeat against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on Friday night.

Thomas, 24, had played the second-half of the friendly at Accrington last Saturday and had trained with the North End squad during the week.

McAvoy said: "It was a good opportunity to see Jamie in the team from the start and you could see he had some very good bits about his game.

"We will have to work with him on his fitness levels but you've got to remember that he's only been in with us this week.

"I had a good chat with Jamie at half-time and told him not to be too safe, try to get on the ball and make forward passes.

"Leading up to our first goal he found a great area and hit a magnificent pass to find Scotty Sinclair in between the lines - between the centre-back and full-back.

"Scotty did great to clip the ball to the back post."

Thomas started his career with Bolton Wanderers as a scholar and then joined Burnley's Under-23s.

He then moved into non-league, playing for Squires Gate, AFC Blackpool and Bamber Bridge - Brig are his current club who he joined in June.

McAvoy said: "We have to be fair to Jamie, he's been with us a week and has done well.

"In training he has looked really good going forward, picking passes.

"I think we need to keep him for a wee bit to see how he does.

"We need to get a bit more out of him, get him to be a bit sharper and get more match fit.

"He isn't going to get that if he's not in our environment. I will speak to Peter Ridsdale about keeping him here.

"I can see an improvement in him and he's only going to improve if we keep him on our environment."

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