Dundee United’s Paul Paton has returned from international duty to more good news after being named the SPFL’s Player of the Month for September.
The influential midfielder collected the award at his club’s training base in St Andrews this morning after being voted last month’s outstanding performer across all four SPFL divisions.
Paton’s September started with United sharing the points in a 2-2 draw with leaders Hamilton Accies. He then helped his side earn local bragging rights with a 4-1 win against Dundee, a game which saw Paton set up two goals and named Man of the Match by many.
United made it a derby double with a 1-0 win over their rivals in the League Cup third round just three days later before Paton rounded off a memorable month by scoring the second in a 2-0 home win against St Johnstone.
Paton, converted from full-back to central midfielder by Jackie McNamara during their time together at Partick Thistle, has been an ever-present for his club this season and spent 351 of 360 minutes on the pitch in September.
Although unused, he has been in the Northern Ireland squad for all three Euro 2016 qualifying wins against Hungary – when he was listed among the substitutes – the Faroes and Greece.
In August this year, the 27-year-old put pen to paper on a new three-year-deal with the Tangerines, who he initially joined the previous summer.
The SPFL’s monthly awards are held in conjunction with the Scottish Football Writers’ Association with winners voted for by members of the Scottish media. Also included in the voting panel was one lucky Scottish football fan, and this month it was Falkirk supporter Craig Cruickshanks.
Craig won the SPFL’s Facebook competition to take part in the voting process, with the additional prize of presenting an award to some of the winners. The SPFL will run the competition again ahead of voting for awards for October – keep an eye on the official SPFL Facebook page for details: www.facebook.com/spflofficial
The full list of SPFL monthly awards winners for September 2014 are:
Player of the Month – Paul Paton (Dundee United)
Young Player of the Month – Jason Cummings (Hibernian)
Premiership Manager of the Month – Allan Johnston (Kilmarnock)
Championship Manager of the Month – Alan Stubbs (Hibernian)
League 1 Manager of the Month – Stephen Aitken (Stranraer)
League 2 Manager of the Month – Gary Naysmith (East Fife)
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