John Coleman has been nominated for the Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month award for December after Accrington Stanley ended 2021 in fine form.

Coleman and his assistant Jimmy Bell marked 20 years in charge at the Reds across two spells on Boxing Day - a milestone achieved with a superb 1-0 victory over leaders Rotherham.

December also brought a thumping 5-1 win over Fleetwood Town, a 1-0 win against Bolton Wanderers and a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Shrewsbury Town - a game where a Covid-hit Stanley side were missing several players due to illness as well as injury.

The only downside was a 2-0 home defeat to AFC Wimbledon as Stanley picked up a possible 10 points out of 15 as they moved back in to play-off contention - they are currently 10th in the league table, nine points outside the top six.

Coleman is up against former Stanley boss Leam Richardson, now in charge of Wigan Athletic, Rotherham boss Paul Warne and Lee Johnson at Sunderland.

The Sky Bet Manager of the Month judging panel comprises former Barnsley manager Danny Wilson, Sky Sports’ EFL expert Don Goodman, EFL Communications Director Mark Rowan and Sky Bet EFL trader Ivor Davies.

The winner will be announced on Friday morning.