Wellington Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay and inform striker Oskar Zawada have been recognised for the team’s performances in January.
They have been named the Isuzu UTE A-League’s coach of the month and player of the month respectively.
Talay guided the Phoenix to three wins and a draw in January to see Wellington rise from ninth to third on the A-League ladder.
He received the most votes from fans after being nominated for the coach of the month award alongside Central Coast Mariners head coach Nick Montgomery, Melbourne City’s Rado Vidosic and Perth Glory’s Ruben Zadkovich.
Zawada beat Brandon Borrello (Western Sydney Wanderers), Aiden O’Neill (Melbourne City), Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City), Darryl Lachman (Perth Glory), Marcelo (Western Syney Wanderers), Valon Berisha (Melbourne City), Adam Taggart (Perth Glory), Jack Duncan (Newcastle Jets) and Curtis Good (Melbourne City) for the player of the month award.
The Polish striker was influential in the Nix picking up 10 points from a possible 15 last month, scoring goals in four of the team’s five matches.
After failing to find the back of the net against Melbourne City on January 2, he scored the only goal in the 1-0 wins over Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar, what proved to be the match-winner in the 2-1 victory over Central Coast Mariners and the opening goal in the 2-2 draw with Perth Glory.
