Defensive pair singled out for praise after Doncaster hold Stockport County to draw

Having signed a new two-and-a-half year contract with the club this week, Doncaster’s skipper put in arguably his best performance of the season as they held the division's fourth highest scorers to a 0-0 draw on Saturday.

Schofield wants to build a team around Anderson, who made his 250th league appearance at Edgeley Park and cleared a second-half corner off the line which looked to be curling in.

Discussing his performance, Schofield said: “That justifies why we wanted to tie him down for another two-and-a-half years.

"The ball was like a magnet to him. Every time it came in the box he got the first contact, but with real quality.

"I thought he led by example and put in a really solid performance.”

Anderson was one of several standout performers along with goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell, who made fine saves in either half to deny Ryan Rydel and Kyle Wootton from close range and earn his eighth clean sheet of the season.

Schofield said: “I thought he made two outstanding saves and coming to a place like Stockport, we knew we’d need our goalkeeper at some point and he stepped up to the plate.

"He was outstanding.”

Mitchell, a one-time England under-21 international, is one of 11 Doncaster players out of contract at the end of the season.

The 28-year-old has strengthened his case for a new deal with four clean sheets in his last six matches.