Maturing Kieran Sadlier happy to put in hard yards for Doncaster Rovers

The club’s top scorer has increasingly adapted his game during the current campaign to offer more cover in wide areas.

And the 25-year-old is taking tremendous satisfaction from seeing the hard work pay off.

“The defensive side of my game is something I’ve always wanted to work on,” he said.

“When I was younger, coming through an academy, personally I didn’t work on it as much as I did with my attacking.

“It didn’t really matter back then because I wasn’t in a situation where I was playing for three points on a Saturday.

“Now, as I’m getting older, I’m learning the defensive side and things like when it’s time to press or not to press, and times to cover.

“If I’m playing in front of Reece [James] and he’s gone forward, do I need to cover behind him?

“Those are just concentration things.

“When I look back at games and often I’ll see myself doing those things naturally and it’s good to see.

“I know that I’m learning from it all.”

Last season Sadlier - who is set to reach the end of his contract with Rovers in the summer - won only half of his defensive duels but that has risen beyond 60 per cent so far this season.

This has come despite his exploits in front of goal which have seen him net 12 times.