McCleary deserves accolade - Cotterill

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cotterill believes Garath McCleary deserves to win the Championship player of the month award.

McCleary has been nominated for March's gong along with Ian Harte at Reading and Kelvin Davis of Southampton. Cotterill feels the winger would be a worthy winner should he get the nod on Friday morning, after a month that has seen the 24-year-old score six goals - including four in one game against Leeds in a 7-3 victory at Elland Road. However, the Reds boss insists that any individual success for McCleary would be because of his team-mates. "It is no more than he deserves because March has been very kind to him. He has produced some very good performances - he was superb against Leeds - and it would be good for him to get some recognition for that," said Cotterill. "But I am also sure he would tell you it would not have been possible without the backing of his team-mates. It has been a team effort that has helped to pull us up the table in recent months. "When you get the kind of goals he has and the goals that Radi (Majewski) got last weekend at Crystal Palace, they are going to be the players who grab the headlines. But they are down-to-earth lads and they will know they would not have got the goals they have or the headlines without the other players behind them."