How manager of the month Steve Cotterill is doing Portsmouth promotion favours at Shrewsbury

Less than two months after taking on the job at Greenhous Meadow, replacing Sam Ricketts, the 56-year-old has been named the Sky Bet League manager of the month for December.

That’s after the Shrews went the entire month unbeaten in the division – moving up from 23rd place in the table, where they were four points from safety, to 17th and five points clear of the drop zone.

Fifteen points from 21 were accumulated in that time, with four wins and three draws recorded.

SEE ALSO: Cotterill: Liquidation threats and forced player sales - Pompey were tough to manage

And it’s not even as if Cotterill – who guided the Blues to 16th place in Championship in 2011 after their relegation from the Premier League – had an easy reintroduction to the game, after spending two-and-a-half years outside of management following his sacking as Birmingham manager in March 2018.

Bar the 1-1 draw with lowly Wigan on Boxing Day, Shrewsbury were pitted against four teams currently in the play-offs and two with hopes of being inside the top six come the end of the season.

They came through it all unscathed, too, picking up successive 1-0 victories against current top-two Lincoln and Hull, and Doncaster Rovers, who are fourth.

Only sixth-placed Charlton managed to come away with anything to show from their encounter, drawing 1-1 with Cotterill’s side at the start of the month.

However, it would have put a dent in the Addicks’ promotion hopes – with similar results also putting the brakes of Accrington and Blackpool’s ambitions of reaching the Championship.

Of course, such results will have benefited Pompey, who have not played since defeating then league leaders Hull on December 18.

That victory at the KCOM Stadium saw JKenny ackett & Co move top of the standings.

They’ve since dropped to third because of their inactivity in recent weeks – two points behind Hull and six adrift of Lincoln, but with a game in hand.

Yet that gap could have been greater if it had not been for Cotterill’s recent intervention.

Meanwhile, Donny, Charlton, Accrington and Blackpool would all be much better placed points-wise if they hadn’t dropped points against the resurgent Shrews – putting extra pressure on Pompey.

Blues fans will be hoping that Cotterill can cause further carnage among the promotion race with games against Lincoln (January 16), Sunderland (January 23) and Peterborough (January 30) currently on the horizon.

The Blues travel to Greenhous Meadow on March 27, after drawing 0-0 with the Shrews on the opening day of the League One season.

There’ll be no further favours that day.

But hopefully by that stage Cotterill influence on the promotion race will have subsided – temporarily at least.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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