VETERAN WOOD CAN STILL CUT IT!

HE’S been the scourge of strikers for over two decades – and Richard Wood doesn’t plan on stopping yet.

- Dave Flett

The veteran defender has signed a new one-year deal at Doncaster Rovers just weeks after fearing he might be surplus to requirements.

Following a summer move from Championship neighbours Rotherham, Wood had made just seven League Two outings prior to the start of February after a couple of calf injuries had kept him sidelined for two months at a time.

When he was recalled following a 5-1 home defeat to Stockport – the club’s sixth loss in eight contests – the omens for both player and club did not look particularly encouraging.

But Wood, who turns 39 in July, had missed just eight minutes of Rovers’ last ten games going into Easter, with the club having taken 21 points from a possible 30 to extinguish all fears of relegation.

Manager Grant McCann subsequently acted swiftly to extend Wood’s career into a 23rd season, but the ex-Sheffield Wednesday centre-back confessed: “I wouldn’t have expected this contract a couple of months ago, especially when I got injured again after just a few games back.