BRAD Friedel could soon be officially crowned the best keeper in the Premiership after his stunning form for Rovers has resulted in him being short-listed for a top award.

Friedel is one of six keepers to make the short-list for the Barclaycard Golden Glove award.

And he boosted his chances of being voted the top flight's undisputed number one with yet another shut-out against Bolton Wanderers on Monday.

Friedel has now kept a staggering 14 clean sheets in the league this season, which is more than any of his top-flight rivals. Chelsea and Liverpool both have 13.

But the unassuming American is quick to share the credit for Rovers' new defensive resilience with the rest of his team-mates.

"I don't tend to look at any of the stats or things of that nature," said Friedel.

"But if we've now kept more clean sheets than anyone else in the Premiership then it's a tribute to the lads because you defend as an entire unit."

Friedel has been in outstanding form all season as Rovers have mounted a charge for the top six.

Breathtaking performances against the likes of Arsenal and Southampton have won him a string of plaudits.

But his name was surprisingly missing when the short-list was drawn up for the PFA player of the year.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old remains the firm favourite to clinch the Golden Glove award.

Chelsea's Carlo Cudicini, Everton's Richard Wright, Shay Given of Newcastle, West Brom's Russell Hoult and Southampton's Antti Niemi are the other five contenders on the short-list.

But Friedel has strengthened his claim with six clean sheets in his last nine appearances to boost Rovers' hopes of securing a place in Europe.

Although Monday's goalless draw with Bolton felt more like two points dropped than one gained, Friedel chose to take the positives out of that performance.

"For the first 20 minutes, I thought we looked really, really sharp and to be honest with you, even though we didn't look like that for the rest of the game, we were still the better of the two sides," he said.

"But that means nothing when you don't come off with three points. In saying that, though, we conceded three goals in our previous game and we kept a clean sheet on Monday so we'll take that as a positive."