TREVOR CARSON last season suffered at Hartlepool United’s expense; now he is out to maintain the momentum at Victoria Park.

Cheltenham Town, with Carson in goal, were relegated from the Football League, as Pools pulled off their Great Escape, surviving against all odds.

Yesterday, the former Sunderland prospect, 27, returned to the North-East to become Ronnie Moore’s sixth signing of a busy summer.

Pools have tracked Carson since the season ended and, while The Robins wanted a fee for his services, they respected his desire to stay in the Football League and return to the North-East.

It was reported last night that while Pools have not paid a fee for his services – Carson had 12 months left on his Cheltenham contract – they agreed to pay his summer wages, to ease the financial burden on the National League side.

Carson’s arrival means Scott Flinders won’t be back at Victoria Park, the goalkeeper was offered a new deal for next season, albeit on reduced terms and his six-year stay is over as he seeks a new club. The same applies to Neil Austin.

Pools will also be chasing a back up for Carson, to work under new goalkeeping coach Tony Caig.

Carson follows Rakish Bingham, Harry Worley, Carl Magnay, Rhys Oates and Jake Carroll into Victoria Park during a busy summer for boss Moore.

And, while he still has some way to go to match the 12 new signings Chris Turner made in 2009, the transformation of the squad signals a real change around Victoria Park under owners IOR Ltd and chairman Ken Hodcroft after some quiet summers of late.

Carson told the club website: “It’s been three or four weeks since I heard Hartlepool were interested and it was the perfect one for me. I’m so happy it’s been done.

“It’s nice to feel wanted – a lot of goalkeepers are out there and we have made this happen and now I want to repay Ronnie Moore by putting in good performances.

“The North-East is my second home, I moved here aged 16 to go to Sunderland and it’s good to be back and it’s a great area to play football.

“There’s positive vibes here from the back end of last season and let’s hope we can carry it on.

“Everyone had wrote Hartlepool off last season and the fans kept believing and everyone must still be on a high from last season.’’

Carson, part of a whole new defensive unit for next season with Worley, Magnay and Carroll joining Michael Duckworth, Scott Harrison, Matthew Bates and Dan Jones, added: “I’ve been speaking to so many people here about last season and I was at Cheltenham who suffered because of Hartlepool’s form.

“We have ambition here to be at the top end of the season and I’ve taken note of the signings and the players here since I knew of the interest.

“We’ve got six signings in and maybe more to come and we will become mates, team-mates and friends in pre-season.

“Personally my form was good last season, but the season was a disappointing one. My form has been good the last three seasons, without the rewards with a team and hopefully we can get that success here.’’