Thomas leaves Hamilton after third spell

Joel Thomas has been released from his Hamilton contract to end his third spell with the SPL club.

Accies have revealed that the 23-year-old is returning to his native France.

Thomas earned a £125,000 move to Colchester in the summer of 2009 despite failing to score in 26 SPL games for Hamilton.

He returned to New Douglas Park on loan in January and broke his SPL duck in style with a stunning 25-yard strike against Hibernian, the first of two goals in a 4-1 win.

Thomas agreed the cancellation of his Colchester contract in August and soon returned to Lanarkshire.

But he has not played since the opening weeks of the campaign and looks to have finally ended his relationship with the club with a total return of four goals from 34 appearances.