Gavin Skelton hopes Jamie Devitt can push on from his successful first outing of the summer as he bids for a new Carlisle United deal.

The midfielder scored an 11-minute hat-trick at Kendal Town in Wednesday’s 9-0 pre-season friendly win.

Devitt will now aim to be involved in Saturday’s trip to Workington Reds as he tries to convince boss Paul Simpson he is worth retaining.

Devitt has missed some of the early stages of pre-season but the experienced player returned to action in style in south Cumbria.

READ MORE: What did we learn from Carlisle United's 9-0 friendly victory at Kendal Town?

Simpson wants the 32-year-old to prove his fitness after an injury-hit spell before making a contract decision.

Simpson’s assistant Skelton said: “I think Jamie knows that.

"He’s missed quite a bit of pre-season, the first couple of days, he missed last week, but he’s trained this week and it was nice for him to get 45 minutes and he showed his quality with his three goals.

“Hopefully he’ll have no reaction from his slight knock last week.”

Devitt joined Carlisle from Barrow on a short-term deal in January and proved a key player in Simpson’s first run of games back at the helm.

Injury then cost him the chance to be involved in the run-in, with Simpson offering the Irish schemer the chance to train this pre-season.

The former Morecambe and Blackpool man has made little secret of his determination to earn a fresh spell at Brunton Park.

Skelton, meanwhile, says Devitt and the other more experienced players at United have played their part in helping along the squad’s promising youngsters.

Nic Bollado, Ryan Carr and Kai Nugent have impressed with their friendly showings at Penrith and Kendal.

Skelton said: “The experienced ones went about it the right way [at Kendal] – Devitt scoring, Jon Mellish showing how he steps in and opened the game up which was pleasing.

“The young ones – Carr in the first half, Nic Bollado and Kai second half – look for the lead off the older pros who are really good with them and encourage them during the game.

“That’s credit to the group.

“If you win 9-0 it’s always going to be pleasing but we’re not daft or getting carried away. It was a good day’s work but we know there’s going to be a lot tougher tests ahead and we know where we need to strengthen the squad.”