[sheffield_fox]

Howard Ends Tunchev Domination
January Awards

Steve Howard ended Aleksandar Tunchev’s recent monopoly on awards by winning the Player-Ratings.com Player of the Month award as voted for by the watching City fans throughout January. Howard combined his player of the month award by being City's most consistent player throughout the month making it an all round excellent January for the targetman. Admirable performances throughout the month from centre backs Jack Hobbs and Michael Morrison also saw them both make the top three, ensuring that there was no negative impact by the lack of Tunchev's presence.

Lloyd Dyer collected his second consecutive flop of the month award but will be buoyed by scoring the winner and his first goal for some time in the 2-1 victory at Northampton which should hopefully give him the confidence to put his season back on track. Full backs Kerrea Gilbert and Bruno Berner were the other two players who played enough games to be put in contention for this award.

Mark Davies claimed the top two best individual performances of the month before clearing off to join Gary Megson's Bolton Wanderers with top drawer performances at home to Leyton Orient and away at Yeovil. Matt Oakley's performance against Leyton Orient also made the top three. Meanwhile, Paul Dickov failed to take his chance to make an impression and he claimed the worst two performances of the month in the games against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and Brighton & Hove Albion at the Walkers.

The replay against against Crystal Palace was voted as the worst performance that City put in as a team during the month, with the home game against Brighton following closely behind and the original Crystal Palace tie third. On a brighter note to finish, there wasn't much to choose between the top performances that City put in this month. While Leyton Orient took the prize, a few higher marks could have easily seen the Yeovil or Huddersfield performances take the prize in what can be considered as an extremely successful month for League One's top side.

Full results below:

Match Awards:
Sat 3rd Jan - Leicester City 0-0 Crystal Palace - FA Cup 3rd Round
Sat 10th Jan - Leicester City 3-0 Leyton Orient - League One
Wed 14th Jan - Crystal Palace 2-1 Leicester City - FA Cup 3rd Round Replay
Mon 19th Jan - Yeovil Town 0-2 Leicester City - League One
Sat 24th Jan - Leicester City 4-2 Huddersfield Town - League One
Tue 27th Jan - Leicester City 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion - League One
Sat 31st Jan - Northampton Town 1-2 Leicester City - League One

Goalkeeper/Defender of the Month:
1st – Jack Hobbs – 6.74
2nd – Michael Morrison – 6.69
3rd – David Martin – 6.57

Midfielder of the Month:
1st – Matt Oakley – 6.49
2nd – Andy King – 6.22
3rd – Lloyd Dyer – 5.69

Attacker of the Month:
1st – Steve Howard – 7.12
2nd – Matty Fryatt – 6.24

Best Team Performance:
1st – Leyton Orient (H) – 6.83
2nd – Yeovil Town (A) – 6.73
3rd – Huddersfield Town (H) – 6.67

Worst Team Performance:
1st – Crystal Palace (A) – 5.61
2nd – Brighton & Hove Albion (H) – 5.78
3rd – Crystal Palace (H) – 6.23

Best Individual Performance:
1st – Mark Davies v Leyton Orient (H) – 8.65
2nd – Mark Davies v Yeovil Town (A) – 7.95
3rd – Matt Oakley v Leyton Orient (H) – 7.78

Worst Individual Performance:
1st – Paul Dickov v Crystal Palace (A) – 3.89
2nd – Paul Dickov v Brighton & Hove Albion (H) – 3.94
3rd – Matt Oakley v Crystal Palace (A) – 4.52

Most Consistent Player:
1st – Steve Howard
2nd – David Martin
3rd – Matty Fryatt

Most Inconsistent Player:
1st – Matt Oakley
2nd – Bruno Berner
3rd – Andy King

Flop of the Month:
1st – Lloyd Dyer – 5.69
2nd – Kerrea Gilbert – 6.02
3rd – Bruno Berner – 6.14

Player of the Month:
1st – Steve Howard – 7.12
2nd – Jack Hobbs – 6.74
3rd – Michael Morrison – 6.69

Full Ratings:
1st – Mark Davies – 7.88 (3 apps)
2nd – Steve Howard – 7.12 (6 apps)
3rd – Aleksandar Tunchev – 6.89 (3 apps)
4th – Jack Hobbs – 6.74 (7 apps)
5th – Ashley Chambers – 6.70 (1 app)
6th – Michael Morrison – 6.69 (5 apps)
7th – David Martin – 6.57 (7 apps)
8th – Matt Oakley – 6.49 (6 apps)
9th – Tom Cleverley – 6.37 (3 apps)
10th – Matty Fryatt – 6.24 (5 apps)
11th – Andy King – 6.22 (7 apps)
12th – Joe Mattock – 6.21 (7 apps)
13th – Bruno Berner – 6.14 (6 apps)
14th – Kerrea Gilbert – 6.02 (7 apps)
15th – Max Gradel – 5.90 (3 apps)
16th – Barry Hayles – 5.74 (1 app)
17th – Lloyd Dyer – 5.69 (6 apps)
18th – Nicky Adams – 5.55 (1 app)
19th – Marc Edworthy – 5.11 (1 app)
20th – Paul Dickov – 4.31 (3 apps)

Note: Appearances are based on games where players played long enough to be rated.

Thanks to everyone who voted this month. Please keep voting throughout February.

[lildave3]

STEVE.

Well deserved.

[Granno]

Awesome work as usual Sheff, keep it up

[Gaffer]

Nice work Sheff

Suuupppeeerrr Super Steve!

[Corky]

Thoroughly deserved for the big man.

[maddog]

Tunchevs injured thats the only reason big Steve won.

Hes still 2nd in my eyes

This post has been edited by maddog: 04 February 2009 - 07:58 PM

[Litster]

Sooper Steve's a Unit.

He will hurt you.

Well in!

[JoeyB]

Steeeeeeeeve.

Great work Sheff fox.

You are a ledge!

[spiderpig]

Excellent stuff.

The stats as usual provide a fair reflection of the previous month : the resurgence of Big Steve and the increasingly mature performances of Hobbs, Martin and Morrison. Conversely, Dyer and Gilberts form has dipped of late but I fully expect them to step it up.

It would be hard to alter the team in any way at the moment, it practically picks itself and the results speak for themselves.

Unstoppable!

[JakeShingler]

Cheers matey

[potter3]

Deserved

Nice work Sheffield

[riznarma]

Well done big man, nice to see his efforts (since the start of the season) haven't gone unnoticed when others have slated him!

[Sooper Steve's shin]

Nice one, Statto.

But I think Tunchev's injury ended Tunchev's domination of the Player of the Month awards more than anything else...

[Ched]

Fully deserved.

He seems to have grown in confidence over the month and become a key member of the team.

Hope he can continue his great partnership with Fryatt.

Played Sheff.