PAUL Lambert has hailed the form of Grant Hanley and Shane Duffy since he took over as Blackburn Rovers boss as outstanding.

The centre-backs caught the eye again as Rovers kept their seventh league clean sheet of the campaign in winning 2-0 at Bristol City on Saturday.

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That is just three fewer shut-outs than they achieved in the whole of last season.

And Lambert is confident there will be more to come if Hanley and Duffy can maintain the high standards they are setting.

“The two of them have been outstanding,” said Lambert, who has also been pleased by the performances of goalkeeper Jason Steele and full-backs Adam Henley and Markus Olsson.

“They’ve been strong, resolute, and all the things that you want in your defensive players.

“The two of them have been excellent and they are only going to get better.

“They have set the standard now and they have to maintain it because if you don’t, then you have a problem in this division.

“But Grant, Shane, Markus and Adam, along with Jason, have been rock solid for us.

“I always think your cornerstone is your defence. If you’ve got a strong defence then you’ve got a chance.”

Only five teams have conceded fewer goals than Rovers (18) in the current Championship campaign and only four teams have kept more clean sheets.

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Hanley and Duffy believe they are playing better than last season when their form fluctuated before they were struck by serious injury.

But the young internationals insist they can improve individually and as a partnership.

Duffy, 23, who has won his place back in the Republic of Ireland squad, said: “I think I’ve been better than last year in terms of my consistency.

“But it’s still not perfect and I’m still trying to improve. The goal against Sheffield Wednesday, for example, was not the greatest.

“But that’s gone now and I’m enjoying playing, with Grant especially.

“The new manager has come in and given me a lot of confidence and hopefully I can get even better with my performances.”

Lambert called captain Hanley ‘colossal’ before he set Rovers on their way to victory over Bristol City with his second goal of the campaign.

But the Scotland regular, 24, said: “I never read the papers so I’ll take your word for it.

“It’s nice to hear that but I’m not going to tell you what he tells me!

“You cannot rest, you need to keep working hard, and especially me and Shane, we’re still young and we’re still building a relationship together.

“But it’s enjoyable at the minute because we’re playing well and we’re getting good results.

“Long may that continue but you cannot rest on your laurels and sit back and think you’ve cracked it because you’ve had a couple of good results and played well for a couple of weeks.

“You need to keep working hard and trying to move on because football can slap you in the face.

“We need to work hard to get better.”