Fleetwood boss Joey Barton on manager of the month shortlist and hoping for biggest prize at end of season

Joey Barton's Fleetwood won 16 points out of a possible 18 during February

Barton is nominated alongside Kenny Jackett of Portsmouth, Mark Robins of Coventry City and Karl Robinson of Oxford United.

It was an outstanding month for Barton’s Cod Army, who emerged with five wins and one draw from six games.

They followed a 2-1 home win over Doncaster Rovers and a 1-0 success at AFC Wimbledon with four fixtures against promotion rivals.

Town won at Wycombe Wanderers, who still boast the best home record in the division, then beat Peterborough United and Portsmouth at Highbury.

Town were only denied a perfect month by Sunderland’s equaliser in the seventh minute of added time at the Stadium of Light.

And Barton wouldn’t rule out finishing top of the pile. Speaking ahead of Tuesday night's draw at Portsmouth, Town's head coach said: “If we don’t win it we’ll be gutted but the title is for the so-called big fish in the division. We’re six or seven weeks from potentially winning League One.

“If I’d said that to you at the start of the season you’d have said I was crazy. I’m not saying we’re going to do it but we’ve got a hell of a chance.”

The winner of the manager of the month award will be announced on Friday morning

Fleetwood Town have paid tribute to their former player Dave Wassall, who has died aged 76. A junior at Blackpool FC, the prolific Wassall scored 28 goals in 66 appearances for Fleetwood from 1973-74 and will be missed by all his friends at the club’s Former Players’ Association.