Signing a striker is a priority for the Gas

UNLIKE Premier League and Championship clubs who were scrambling to complete their transfer business ahead of yesterday’s 5pm deadline, Bristol Rovers have until September 2 to bolster their squad.

Manager Graham Coughlan has confirmed that the club are continuing to hunt for an additional striker and revealed he had been pursuing the signature of the controversial Ched Evans, 30, who signed for League One rivals Fleetwood Town on Thursday from Sheffield United.

Coughlan has also been an admirer of Joe Nuttall and was in the market for the forward back in January. However, the 22-year-old switched Blackburn Rovers Blackpool during the summer

It is understood the Gas also made enquiries about Sheffield United’s Leon Clarke, but the Blades marksman, now 34, was asking for wages four times higher than the club’s current top earner.

Coughlan said: “I am certainly looking (to add a striker), if the right one came up. Ched Evans was somebody that we liked, but again (he was) out of our remit.

“Unless I can get favours, unless people are willing to do me a turn, we might have to move one or two out and make adjustments here, there and everywhere to try and get what we want.

“It is a difficult process. It is not as for easy as I had imagined during all those years as a football fan, as a coach, as a player. I just thought you could go out and get what you wanted in the market, but I am learning the realities of football.”

Gavin Reilly loan move to Cheltenham Town last week has left Coughlan with Jonson Clarke-Harris, Tom Nichols and loan pair Tyler Smith and Victor Adeboyejo as options up front. Clarke-Harris, who had keyhole surgery in the summer, missed the 2-0 defeat at Blackpool and remains a doubt for Rovers’ first home game tomorrow against Wycombe Wanderers.

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