Paul Hurst nominated for League One manager of the month award with Shrewsbury Town

The Greenhous Meadow chief's haul of eight points from five games at the start of 2017 has eased Shrewsbury's relegation fears and helped them climb to 18th in League One.

The former Grimsby manager was immediately able to plug the torrent of goals Shrewsbury were shipping prior to his arrival in October, while he was active in the January transfer window, adding eight new faces.

Hurst, whose side challenge high-fliers Scunthorpe United on Saturday, lines up against the Iron chief Graham Alexander for the third tier award. The other two nominees are MK Dons' Robbie Nielson, who was appointed in December, and Fleetwood chief Uwe Rosler.

"I guess it's nice but I won't be changing anything now," said Hurst.

"If I'm nominated for something like that a couple more times between now and the end of the season then we know we'll be fine.

"I'm the name that gets put out there but it's about the players and what they're doing on the training ground and, most importantly, on the pitch."

Former Town manager Micky Mellon was nominated for the competition's League Two equivalent five times in the 2014-2015 campaign, but failed to win the award despite winning promotion.

Chief executive Brian Caldwell said: "We are delighted that Paul has been nominated and it is testament to the hard work he and the backroom team have put in over the past three months.

"The players, as everyone will have seen, have given their all for them and this has been shown in the turnaround in performances and results.

"When we look back, the chairman and I are very pleased that we were very patient last October in getting Paul to the club and agreeing the compensation we did in order to bring what we felt at the time was the right appointment. The indications are that Paul's appointment will prove to be a good investment for the club."