New boy Carr can drive Rovers on

After a slow start, Rovers got their season moving on Monday night with a 6-0 trouncing of Bray Wanderers.

While established Hoops players Brandon Miele, Graham Burke and David McAllister chipped in with goals, so did new arrivals Dan Carr and Sean Kavanagh, Carr (24) coming away with a goal and an assist.

Carr, a Londoner, began his career as a trainee with Reading but since he left that club he's been through 10 different English clubs, peaking with a Championship appearance for Huddersfield, some of those clubs on loan and mainly in the English non-league scene while his most recent employers were a Swedish fourth-tier side.

The club names (Dulwich Hamlet, Leatherhead, Karlstad) didn't shout success and even Bradley admitted he was dubious about the much-travelled forward.

"There are some CVs you look at and you'd sign them straight away and there are some you wouldn't look at, and Dan is one you wouldn't look at because how many clubs he's had and everything else," says Bradley.

"But when you really do your homework and talk to people who are in the game a long time and have worked at a really high level, everything that came back was 'sign him'.

"I spoke to a lot of people about him. His agent (Paolo Vernazza) is a good friend of mine, I played with him at Arsenal, so I got a lot of information. I spoke to clubs, I spoke to chief scouts at other clubs and every one of them recommended that I sign him. He just hadn't had the break.

"After five minutes of watching him with us, you wanted him, it was just his character and personality."

Since the departure of Gary Twigg in 2012, Rovers have lacked a striker who can score 15-plus goals a season (for two seasons their top scorer had just eight goals) but Carr could fit the bill.

"He adds to us and gives us something we haven't had in a long time," Bradley said.