PHIL Parkinson believes the experience of playing alongside a big striker should make loan recruit Wes Thomas a good fit for City.

Thomas yesterday joined the Bantams on a three-month loan deal from Birmingham.

The 29-year-old is in the squad to face Fleetwood this afternoon, although Parkinson may hold him back because of a recent lack of games.

But the Bantams boss is confident the arrival of Thomas will provide a much-needed attacking boost – and is backing the new man to work well with James Hanson.

"If you look at the current situation with Billy Clarke out and Devante (Cole) going, we needed to bring another player in," said Parkinson.

"Wes is a player who looks to run in behind (defenders) and looks to make good runs in and around the penalty box. We're looking forward to getting him among the group.

"He's also played well with target men before. That's the key for us.

"He's played with Alex Revell at Rotherham and Tyrone Barnett at Crawley. He's a bright personality and I feel he can give us a lift."

Thomas recently returned to St Andrew's from a loan spell with Swindon, where he scored twice in six games.

But he was pushed out towards the end because of a surplus of loan players – Swindon had six and only five are allowed in the 16-man squad.

Parkinson said: "Wes started all right then got an injury and obviously the down side of Wes is that he hasn't played much football of late.

"But we've got the Prozone stats sent up to us and the level of training he's been doing.

"I think he's as fit as he can be without playing games, so we want to ease him in gradually because we don't want to get him injured.

"He was very keen to come. It was just getting the deal sorted, which sometimes takes time.

"There's always a concession on wages when you bring a player in from a higher level."

Parkinson has not ruled out further business before the transfer window shuts on Monday night.

"I wouldn't say definitely not but the three-month loan window opens the following week," he said.

"The main priority was to replace Devante and obviously with Clarkey getting injured, it really heightened that."