DAVE Winfield said he’d rather keep goals out than score them after netting his first in more than a year.

The big defender scored his first goal since New Year’s Day 2011 when he bundled in from a corner to wrap up a 3-0 win over Rochdale at Adams Park.

But stopping Dale from scoring gave him far more personal satisfaction as Wanderers kept their first clean sheet in four months.

He said: “Personally I’d much rather keep a clean sheet than score a goal so to get them both in one game is delightful.

“It’s always nice to pop up with one or two throughout the season. It’s an added bonus for a defender to sink one in, I’m really pleased.”

Winfield said not keeping clean sheets had wounded Wanderers’ pride this season but he hopes stopping Rochdale from scoring will prove a confidence boost he and the rest of the Blues backline need.

He said: “We’ve done it today, why can’t we do it next week and the following week? When you do it once it means you are capable of doing it.

“It was one of our goals this season, to keep as many as possible. Unfortunately it’s not gone that way so far but hopefully this is something to build on.

“It has been frustrating. We’re playing against better opposition as well so we’ve got to take that into consideration but I think there have been times where we could have done better with goals. So long as we learn from the mistakes, we can kick on.”

The win secured a vital three points against one of Wanderers’ relegation rivals, and Winfield says they need to back that up in the coming months.

Only goal difference separated Blues and Rochdale at kick off and having overcome one hurdle Wanderers will be looking to jump over a few more in February and March when they play the likes of Yeovil, Walsall and Exeter.

Winfield said: “These are the games we’ve got to be desperate to win, when you’re playing the teams in and around you. It’s like a mini league to stay up at the bottom. You’ve got to beat the teams around you – we managed to do that.

“It’s a massive couple of months for us but it’s been a massive season for us so far. We’ll take every game as it comes and try to duplicate the performance today and we’ll see where we are.”