Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill nominated for League One manager of the month after unbeaten December

Having taken over a side second-bottom with just one win all season, Cotterill has gone unbeaten in his seven league games in charge, with four wins and three draws.

The 15-point haul from a possible 21 has Shrews top of the division’s form table and five points above the relegation places, having initially been five points from safety.

The Town chief goes up against former Shrewsbury defender David Artell, of Crewe, Blackpool’s Neil Critchley and Karl Robinson, of Oxford, for the gong. The winner is revealed on Friday.

After starting with two home draws, Cotterill led Town to three successive 1-0 victories at Hull City, Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers – three of the top four.

Odds of recording those consecutive victories and shut-outs against the division’s top clubs were priced at 1,980/1.

Salop then earned a battling point in coming from behind at Wigan on Boxing Day and a 1-0 Montgomery Waters Meadow victory over Blackpool – a first home league win of the season and only second in the calendar year – to see out an otherwise forgettable 2020.

Town next turn their attention to the FA Cup and Premier League Southampton – slayers of champions Liverpool on Monday – on Saturday evening. The tie is dependant on the squad returning negative Covid tests after two positive cases.

Cotterill praised the players for their ‘ideas and organisation’ during the remarkable turnaround. He said: “All the credit belongs to the players, you can only give them pointers, coach them on the training field. I think they’ve got lots of ideas and lots of organisation. A couple have come out in passages of play.

“Can we flip it all in one movement all of a sudden? They’ve got a clear idea of what I want, they’ve got organisation and they’ve got ideas, and that is key for them.”