WHENEVER a striker joins a new club, all he's bothered about in the first few weeks is getting his name on the scoresheet as quickly as possible.

The longer you go without scoring, the harder it becomes to win the respect of not just your team-mates, but the fans as well.

That's because all strikers are ultimately judged in black and white terms; it's all about the amount of goals you score compared to the number of games you play in.

It's therefore absolutely vital for a striker to get off the mark as quickly as possible for his new employers, otherwise things can very quickly go pear shaped.

Just look at the way Alan Shearer and Kevin Davies both started their respective careers at Rovers.

Both arrived from Southampton in big money deals, and with expectations weighing heavily on their shoulders, but, whereas Alan never looked back after scoring two goals on his debut against Crystal Palace, it took Kevin 16 games to break his duck for Rovers, and he never fully recovered from that poor start.

It was a great boost then to see Roque Santa Cruz start his Rovers career with a real bang at the Riverside on Saturday.

Introduced from the bench as a second half substitute, the Paraguayan took just three minutes to announce his arrival in the Premiership, rising brilliantly to meet a David Bentley cross with a towering header that fairly flew past Mark Schwarzer.

It was a super goal and, dare I say it, it was very reminiscent of a certain Alan Shearer, in terms of the way he got up above his marker in a central position to power in the header.

I'm sure that won't be the last time we'll see Roque getting on the end of a Bentley centre this season!

I was also heartened to see young Matty Derbyshire make a similar impact following his introduction from the bench.

As a young striker in his second season as a Premiership player, it was equally important for Matt's confidence that he got a goal early on.

Inevitably, people will ask the question were his goals last season just a flash in the pan?', but he's already answered that in emphatic style, scoring against Boro, and FK Vetra in the Intertoto Cup, to get his campaign off to a flying start.

Rovers must now look to keep the momentum going from that victory at the Riverside when they face MyPa-47 in the UEFA Cup tomorrow night, because winning is a great habit to get into, particularly at this stage in the season.

On paper, the managerless Finns should present Rovers with few problems, but I'm sure Mark and his staff will still prepare for it in exactly the same way that they'll prepare for Sunday's visit of Arsenal.