Eckert and Peretz up for March awards
Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert and goalkeeper Daniel Peretz have both earned nominations from the EFL for the Sky Bet Championship’s latest monthly awards.
Saints continued their unbeaten run, which now stands at 16 matches in all competitions, by taking 10 points from their four league games in March.
It is the third time Eckert has been nominated for Manager of the Month in just five months as a head coach, and the German is now looking for back-to-back wins after claiming February’s prize.
March started with a flurry of away games, including league trips to West Brom, where Saints snatched a point in stoppage time, and Coventry, where they defeated the league leaders in what was a fourth successive outing on the road.
A return to St Mary’s was welcome, and Saints took advantage with back-to-back wins over Norwich (1-0) and Oxford (2-0) to climb into the play-off places for the first time since the opening weekend of the season.
Those two clean sheets have also seen Peretz nominated for the Player of the Month award.
The on-loan Bayern Munich stopper has proved to be an inspired January signing, with the EFL referencing his miraculous full-length diving save to deny Coventry’s Liam Kitching, and a stunning double stop against Norwich in two crucial victories.
The keeper faces competition for the award from George Campbell (West Brom), Matt Clarke (Derby) and Josh Coburn (Millwall), while Eckert is up against Matt Bloomfield (Oxford), Frank Lampard (Coventry) and James Morrison (West Brom) for the manager prize.
Both awards will be decided by an EFL judging panel, with the winners to be announced on Friday.
Saints are back in action at St Mary's on Saturday when play-off rivals Derby County are the visitors (3pm BST). Tickets start from £25 for Adults and £15 for Juniors.
