Doncaster Rovers: Striker hunt continues as Darren Moore admits he expected to make a deadline day signing

The transfer deadline passed on Monday without Moore securing an experienced number nine he has been searching for since the departure of John Marquis last month.

The Rovers boss revealed he had expected to secure a target on Monday but to no avail.

And he says he will continue to look at the free agent market for potential forwards.

"We were looking before so nothing has changed really," Moore said.

"What I won't allow it to do is cloud what I'm doing. When it is right to look we'll look, when it's not all the attention is on the game.

"That has been the importance of it. It's not taken our focus away from it.

"When the time comes we work together as a club and we try to get it done."

Moore said it is difficult to judge just how close Rovers came to adding a forward before the deadline.

While he was expected to make a signing on Monday, he said the volatile nature of the transfer market there is never a sure thing when it comes to making additions.

"When I say close - were we?" Moore said.

"We were close but until that person has signed on the dotted line, nothing is done until it's done in football. That is always the case.

"You can talk about things being close but was it because it's probably as far away."I'll say yeah we were close but we didn't get one in.

"It's not for the want of trying. We worked incredibly hard and we continue to work hard - that has been the beautiful thing about it.

"Because we're working hard to do it, when the opportunity comes to work on areas we will do.

"But at the same time when it comes to preparing and getting the team ready for the match we've had to focus on that and I think we've got that right mixture at the moment."

On expecting to make a signing on deadline day, Moore added: "Yeah I did but I've been in these situations before.

"If you saw some of the behind the scenes stuff, how some of it happens, you'd be amazed.

"Until it's signed it's not done.

"The easy part is identifying them. The hardest part is getting it on that dotted line because competition is so fierce out there."