Ashton & Roberts stay with Stevenage after Doncaster interest

Stevenage centre-backs Jon Ashton and Mark Roberts are to stay with the club after a series of bids from League One rivals Doncaster were rejected.

Ashton, 29, and Roberts, 28, joined the club in 2009 from Grays Athletic and Northwich respectively.

They will be out of contract next summer but boss Gary Smith sees them as integral to his plans for the season.

Chairman Phil Wallace said selling to a club in the same division would be a "mockery" of the club's ambitions.

Wallace and Smith have been in talks with the pair over the past few weeks.

"Mark and Jon have given so much to the club in the past few seasons that they deserved to be treated differently.

"They have both been inspirational for us and we need to keep that drive going as long as possible.

"At the end of the season we'll look at it again, but I'm so pleased we've found the middle ground that allows us all to totally focus on the job in hand," Wallace told the club's website.