James Maxwell highlights fitness levels in Doncaster Rovers’ win over Carlisle United

Rovers put in arguably their best performance of the season in the 2-1 win over Carlisle United on New Year’s Day, which came just three days after they beat Rochdale 4-3.

Danny Schofield spoke of his desire to improve fitness levels when he was hired as head coach in October and says the data is now showing improvements.Maxwell, who broke his Doncaster duck with the opening goal against Paul Simpson’s Cumbrians, said: “We are probably fitter than what we were at the start of the season and that’s helped in terms of putting two good back-to-back performances together.

"For about 85 minutes it’s probably the best we have defended. We controlled the game for large parts, teams are going to have a spell in this division, it’s just about limiting how much they have.

"Overall it was probably one of our best performances of the season.”

Ex-Rangers youngster Maxwell admitted his first taste of the packed festive football schedule in England was a shock to the system.He said: “Three games in six days is a bit mad."It’s all about recovery, I don’t have any distractions down here so it’s pretty easy.

"Yesterday (Saturday) I woke up and didn’t feel great. You are going to feel tired, Carlisle were the same.

"It’s all about having the right mentality and almost dissociating from the tiredness you feel.”

Six points from two games has put Doncaster back in the play-off mix once again.They are just one point outside out the top seven and six points clear of the final automatic promotion spot, with three wins in their last four games.

But despite his tender years, 21-year-old Maxwell refused to get carried away.

He said: “Ever since the new manager has come in we have talked about putting a run together and it’s not come to fruition.

"We need to park that and take it game by game. It’s hard in this league to put a run together, but when we do and you pick up momentum it’s the strongest thing in football.”