IPSWICH Town manager Paul Jewell’s initial failure to sign Billy Sharp has not blunted his search for a 25-goal-a-season striker.

IPSWICH Town manager Paul Jewell’s initial failure to sign Billy Sharp has not blunted his search for a 25-goal-a-season striker.

Jewell admitted yesterday to feeling “disappointed” that Town’s combined �2.6m bid to sign the Doncaster Rovers duo of goal-poacher Sharp and wide-man James Coppinger had been knocked back by the Yorkshire club.

However, the Town boss refused to rule out the possibility of Town improving their offer, over the coming weeks, while also stressing that Sharp and Coppinger were just two of his many summer targets.

In fact, Jewell will not rest until he has found a striker with the potential to “kick his granny to score a goal!”

Jason Scotland was Town’s leading marksman in the Championship with just 10 league goals during the last season, while Jon Walters topped the charts with just eight the previous year.

“We made what we felt was a fair offer for the two players,” admitted Jewell.

“Doncaster turned it down. That’s their prerogative. We’re obviously disappointed because we feel they have the qualities that will add something to the squad.

“They are just two of a number of transfer targets we have though. We’re talking to other clubs and we will see what develops from there.”

Town lodged a �2.3m bid to sign Sharp, while also offering �300,000 for Coppinger.

Sharp has been Doncaster’s leading scorer for the last two seasons, netting 16 goals in a struggling team in the most recent campaign, despite only playing 28 of the 46 league games due to injury.

The 25-year-old striker first shot to fame during two prolific years at Scunthorpe United, which included an impressive haul of 30 league goals in the Iron’s promotion-winning season of 2006-07. That led to a �2m move to Sheffield United, and later a �1.15m switch to Doncaster.

Coppinger, meanwhile, along with Sharp, played a major part in Rovers avoiding relegation over the last season. The 30-year-old attacking midfielder has rattled up 250 league appearances since his move from Exeter during the summer of 2004. He signed a new contract last September that takes him to 2013.

Jewell, though, has other irons in the fire.

He explained: “We are doing our homework on the players we want to bring in, but we must add more winners to the dressing-room.

“I want a goalscorer or two who will do anything to score a goal. Not just on matchday but in training as well. There has not been a 25 goal a season striker here for a long time, going back to Darren Bent.

“If you have that goalscorer in your team, it makes the team more confident that if we go a goal down, we can get back in the game. I don’t think we have that devilment in the squad, that type of player who will kick his granny to score a goal.”