TAKE IT TO THE MAX
Sunjic and Clarke also triumph
Sunderland midfielder Max Power bags Goal of the Month award
SUNDERLAND midfielder Max Power couldn’t hide his delight after scooping the Sky Bet League One Goal of the Month award for September.
The 26-year-old cracked home a sweet 25-yarder in the 2-1 home win against MK Dons to hold off the challenge of MK Dons’ Rhys Healey and Bristol Rovers’ Jonson Clarke-Harris. Power picked up 58 per cent of the public vote.
“I’m over the moon with it because I’ve never won an award like this before,” he said. “It’s always nice to be recognised and all the more so because we earned the three points. Although personal accolades are great, it’s all about the team and picking up positive results.
“The game was fairly balanced at the time and the goal came out of nowhere, so when it hit the back of the net, it was a great buzz and a great feeling in front of 30,000 fans.
“It’s the type of moment you play football for and you can tell by my reaction what I thought about it because I almost ended up on the gravel knee sliding!”
Birmingham City midfielder Ivan Sunjic claimed the Championship accolade for his goal in the 3-2 defeat at Derby, receiving 55 per cent of the votes.
With his side trailing 2-1 and the ball bobbling around in the Derby area, Sunjic fired home a rising 20yard shot which simply flew in.
The 23-year-old Croatian beat off competition from Fulham’s Tom Cairney and Hull City’s Kamil Grosicki.
Walsall defender James Clarke made it a September double by scooping the League Two goal honour. Only the week before he had bagged the League Two Player of the Month award.
Piledriver
Crawley’s defenders didn’t hurry to close down a central defender 30 yards out from goal and Clarke unleashed a piledriver that was still rising as it struck the net.
The 29-year-old said: “I’m really happy to win the goal of the month award. Rory Gaffney played a good pass across to me and I was invited to take the shot on and thankfully it went into the top corner.”
Clarke, with 61.5 per cent of the vote, beat off competition from Plymouth’s Conor Grant and Swindon’s Eoin Doyle.
The winners were chosen after a fan poll on skysports.com. The shortlist is decided by a judging panel, which comprises Sky Sports’ EFL e x pert Don Goodman, Sky Bet sponsorship executive Matt Goodwin and EFL senior media manager Rob Meaden.