Fulham pair Slavisa Jokanovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic win Sky Bet Championship April awards
Friday 4 May 2018 10:59, UK
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic has been named the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month for April.
April brought six more unbeaten games and 16 more points as his team continued their relentless pursuit of automatic promotion. Even in the crucial run-in, Jokanovic has his players expressing themselves with verve, freedom and beguiling fluency.
Jokanovic said: "April was a great month for us. It wasn't an easy month, facing teams like Millwall who were still fighting for an important target and trying to win full points against Sunderland when they're playing with no pressure.
"At the end of the month, it's a great job, huge credit for my players and we're looking at the next steps immediately ahead of us. We're thinking only about the next challenge, which is getting three points against Birmingham and getting to 91 points for the season."
Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has been named the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month for April.
A second successive award for the unstoppable Serbian. Mitrovic scored in five of his six games, including the winners against Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland. As well as his all-round contribution, his passion for the club as a loan player is striking.
Mitrovic said: "It feels great, I'm glad for the award, but I'm even happier that the team is doing well and keep winning games. We have one game to go before the end of the regular season, so we have to focus on this game to try and win and see what happens with Cardiff.
"Coming to Fulham has gone much better than I could have ever expected and I hope it can continue."
Sky Bet League One
Manager: Paul Cook, Wigan
A busy April schedule of eight games couldn't halt Wigan's charge to promotion under Cook. 15 points were gained and 17 goals scored along the way as Wigan stayed true to his principles and passed their way into the Championship.
Sky Sports' EFL pundit Don Goodman said: "Last month, when picking up March's Manager of the Month award, Paul spoke about being happier if he was sitting there with April's award. Well, now he's got his wish!
"After another taxing month with eight fixtures crammed into four weeks, Cook's Wigan side secured promotion with a thumping 4-0 win against Fleetwood in a run of games that highlight the depth and quality of the squad he has put together.''
Player: Will Grigg, Wigan
Six goals and an assist in eight April games for Wigan striker Grigg. He did it all - nipping in for a header at Portsmouth, running in behind, as he did in his hat-trick against MK Dons and sliding home a late winner over Oxford.
Grigg said: "It's great to pick up these awards, but I can't stress enough how much it's been a team effort and the lads have been brilliant throughout and obviously it's nice for me to get the goals but it's been a collective effort and I wouldn't have got the award without them.
"One of the benefits of having such a strong squad is that we were playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday and were able to rotate the team and whoever was out there was more than capable of doing the job. It was a massive month for us and when you're at the business end of the season it's really important to get those wins."
Sky Bet League Two
Manager: Nathan Jones, Luton
Jones reaped his reward for continuing to encourage his attacking Luton side to express themselves as they collected 13 points from five unbeaten games and sealed the automatic promotion place they have occupied since the autumn.
Jones said: "To win three awards in a season makes me very pleased, as it means in three months we've been the highest points scorers which culminated in us getting promoted. This month is probably the most special because it means you're finishing strong and we needed that to get over the line.
"I'm immensely proud of leading Luton Town back to League One, but I'm also proud of the work we do. It's a cliché, but it's a massive collective effort from day one when I came into the club, from the players who've been here, to the staff that were here and we've brought in."
Player: Mitch Rose, Grimsby
Assured in midfield, Rose converted penalties under suffocating pressure in three successive games to earn Grimsby seven points. Not any old penalties either; two came in the final 10 minutes against relegation rivals Chesterfield and Barnet.
Rose said: "I'm delighted, obviously it's a huge accolade to have from an individual perspective and I'm just happy to be able to finish the season on a high. The new manager brought a real work ethic into the group, the training intensity went up massively when he came in.
"When we were first introduced to him at the game at Carlisle he said to us that from what he'd seen of our last three games, he felt we had the quality to survive in this division and from that Monday the intensity went up massively compared to what we were used to."
