Doncaster Rovers boss Danny Schofield delighted with latest win and clean sheet

James Maxwell’s first-half strike handed Doncaster their third victory and shut-out on the bounce and helped maintain pressure on the sides above them in the League Two play-off race.

"It was a hard-fought victory,” said Schofield, who is enjoying his best run of form since taking charge in October.

“To keep a third clean sheet on the bounce was fantastic.

"The players deserve all the credit in terms of the effort and the application.”

Rovers looked full of confidence from the off and dominated the first period without creating too many clear-cut chances aside from their goal.

Maxwell met James Brown’s cross at the far post in the 17th minute before taking the ball down and firing past Barrow keeper Paul Farman at the second time of asking after his initial effort was blocked.

The visitors improved after the break and applied pressure on Jonathan Mitchell’s goal without making the home defence look too uncomfortable.

Their two efforts on goal both came from outside of the box and were comfortably stopped by Mitchell.

Schofield said: “I thought we were very good in the first half and controlled lots of moments, had some really good attacking play and scored a good goal.

"The second half was very much a fight; lots of direct balls, first contacts, second contacts, lots of defending. I thought we were a bit open at times.

"I can’t fault the lads, they gave everything tonight for that victory.”

A floodlight failure in the second half led to a seven-minute delay and temporarily threatened to throw Rovers off course.

Schofield said: “I could see the energy in the lads still and the real experienced players were clued up and switched on because when the lights came back on they had a drop-ball to put into our box.

"We needed to make sure we defended that well.”

Doncaster remain two points off the final play-off spot despite the win, which equalled their best run of form since August.

They travel to Sutton, who are one place below them in the table, on Saturday.