Blackpool’s Chris Maxwell sees off competition from Sunderland and Lincoln City keepers to win League One’s Golden Glove

The 30-year-old kept his 21st shutout of the season on Tuesday night during Blackpool’s 2-0 win against Doncaster Rovers.

Maxwell’s 21 clean sheets come from 43 games, having missed two matches before Christmas through Covid, giving him a 48.8 per cent success rate.

Sunderland’s number one Lee Burge and Lincoln City keeper Alex Palmer are joint second in the list with 18 clean sheets each.

Tomas Holy (Ipswich Town), Matt Ingram (Hull City) and Ben Amos (Charlton Athletic) all have 16.

The Seasiders have only conceded 37 goals this season from 45 games, the best record in the third tier alongside title winners Hull.

No goalkeeper in England's top four tiers have kept as many clean sheets as Maxwell in 2021 with 14, compared to Watford's Daniel Bachmann (13) and Norwich City's Tim Krul (12).

Pool’s head coach Neil Critchley lavished Maxwell with praise for his performances this season, telling The Gazette: “That’s a really good moment for Maxi because he’s been the best goalkeeper in this division this season.

“But he’ll also be the first to applaud the defence and his mates in front of him because they’ve protected him well.

“Another clean sheet, we haven’t conceded many goals have we? So it would be nice if we could carry that on for the next couple of games.”

Maxwell was a surprise absence from the EFL’s League One team of the season, which was announced last week.

Instead, the goalkeeper spot was taken by Sunderland’s Burge, who has kept three fewer clean sheets.

The team of the season, decided by an expert judging panel according to the EFL, was dominated by players representing Sunderland, Hull and Peterborough United.

Sunderland have the most players included with four, with Burge joined by teammates Luke O'Nien, Aiden McGeady and Charlie Wyke.

Peterborough have three players in Mark Beevers, Joe Ward and the league's top scorer Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Hull are represented by Callum Elder and George Honeyman, while their boss Grant McCann picked up the manager of the season award.

Jorge Grant of Lincoln City and Oxford United's Rob Atkinson are also named in the end-of-season XI.

Peterborough striker Clarke-Harris was named League One's player of the season, seeing off competition from Hull midfielder Honeyman and Sunderland striker Wyke.

Clarke-Harris has scored 33 goals this season to fire the Posh to promotion.

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