Town boss Kieran McKenna says new signing Kieffer Moore will play a part for the Blues at Preston North End tomorrow having rejoined the club late on deadline day.

Moore was the only new recruit on the final day of the transfer window, signing on loan from AFC Bournemouth.

“It's one the club worked hard on for a while,” McKenna said of the deal to sign the 31-year-old Wales international.

“Of course, you're not in control of the situation and when it goes down to the last day, there's a little bit of trepidation.

“But he's a really experienced, high-calibre player, he's the profile of striker that we felt we really needed to add to the squad with George Hirst's injury.

“He gives us that physical presence on the top line and he's a very good character and professional as well, and he knows a lot of the players here from previous clubs.

“So hopefully, he'll be able to settle in pretty quickly. We were happy to get that deal done.”

Quizzed on whether Moore, who was previously with the Blues from January 2017 for a year, making 11 sub appearances without scoring, was ready to play a part at Deepdale tomorrow, McKenna said: “He'll be involved. How many minutes he plays, we're off to decide.

“He just arrived last night. We haven't trained much this morning because we've got a long travel, but on the other hand, he's been playing some minutes lately and he's a fit and robust man, so we'll look to get him involved straight away.”

Moore was courted by a number of other Championship clubs, including another of his former clubs, Cardiff City, and Sunderland.

McKenna was asked whether it’s a feather in Town’s cap that the Blues were able to fight off the competition.

“That's a positive,” he reflected. “And I think that's a positive for us right through this window, to be honest.

“I said it before in the summer window in both my seasons here, it's naturally a challenge to attract players, but that's not been a challenge this January at all. Not every player, but the large majority of players that we spoke to in different positions, have all been attracted by the prospect of coming to the club.

“They see the positivity that is around the club, the style of play, the environment that's been created and the atmosphere within the training ground and the atmosphere at the stadium, really importantly.

“So I think that's a big positive that we're a much more attractive proposition for players to come and that was, I think, a big positive right across the transfer window.”

Photo: ITFC

PaulRBoast added 15:16 - Feb 2 We rescued him from non league, gave him his chance he has worked hard so good luck to him, lets hope he can repay ITFC their initial belief.
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Linkboy13 added 15:50 - Feb 2 Hasn't had time to get integrated into the system and therefore will probably start on the bench along with Al Hamadi who i can see coming on for Burns and playing a wide role and using his pace.
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