Oxford United’s superb form in January has been recognised with Josh Ruffels and Karl Robinson being nominated for the Sky Bet League 1 Player of the Month and Manager of the Month awards respectively.
The January nominations for Manager of the Month, with the judges’ comments, are:
Karl Robinson (Oxford United)
A second successive unbeaten month, this time matching 12 goals with a perfect 12 points from four games as Robinson guided his side towards the play-off places. Their away wins came in style, too - 5-1 at Burton, 4-3 at Rochdale.
Michael Appleton (Lincoln City)
The energy and enthusiasm of his young side continue to overpower opponents. Lincoln maintained their top two position with 10 points from five games, including fixtures against promotion rivals Peterborough and Portsmouth.
Grant McCann (Hull City)
No League One team accumulated more points in January, with 14 from their seven games. McCann managed his squad superbly, keeping his players fresh and hungry, never more so than in the stunning 4-0 win at Portsmouth.
Darren Moore (Doncaster Rovers)
Four victories from four games for Moore’s men in January as they moved from play-off hopefuls to genuine automatic promotion contenders. And all this while losing influential midfielder and captain Ben Whiteman in the transfer window.
The nominations for the Player of the Month Award are:
Josh Ruffels (Oxford United) - full-back
Combined with his role in a defence that kept another two clean sheets, Ruffels’ natural instincts as a former midfielder thrust him forward to great effect. His three goals in four games from left-back included a fizzing low strike at Burton.
George Honeyman (Hull City) – midfielder
One goal and three assists are the bald statistics of Honeyman’s month, yet he was directly involved in three other Hull goals and didn’t give opposing defenders any peace. Inventive, too, as seen in his clever backheel for an assist at Charlton.
Matty Lund (Rochdale) - midfielder
No player typifies Rochdale’s all-action approach better than Lund, combining creativity and passing ability with energy and coolness in front of goal, and constantly bursting forward to score four goals and add three assists.
Charlie Wyke (Sunderland) – striker
Five goals in seven games for Wyke – and game-defining ones, too. His hat-trick at Wimbledon, a header against Shrewsbury and a sweetly-timed volley at Ipswich accounted for every Sunderland goal in their January victories.
The judging panel comprises Sky Sports’ EFL expert Don Goodman; EFL Communications Director Mark Rowan and Sky Bet EFL trader Ivor Davies.
ALL WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON FRIDAY 12th FEBRUARY